
Rnnk .Fg ~F7 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 





King Henry of Xavarre 



Queen jMargaret of Xavarre 





John Calvin 



Admiral l>e Coligny 



The French Blood 
In America 

By LUC IAN J. FOSDICK 
ILLUSTRATED 



.^-J^ 




NEW YORK 

THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO. 

1911 



nrj 



COPYRIGHT, 1906 

BY LUCIAN J. FOSDICK 

FLEMING H. REVELL CO. 



All rights reserved 



COPYRIGHT, 1911 
BY THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO. 



PRINTED • AND • BOUND • BY 
THE -PLIMPTON -PRESS 
NORWOOD -MASS- D-S-A 



THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED 

TO ALL PATRIOTIC AMERICANS, 

AND ESPECIALLY TO THE DESCENDANTS 

OF THE HEROIC FRENCH PROTESTANTS, 

EXILES FROM THEIR NATIVE LAND 

ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR RELIGIOUS FAITH — 

THE STORY OF WHOSE HEROISM, 

AND THE PART THEY PLAYED IN THE 

BUILDING OF OUR AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH 

ON THE SOLID FOUNDATIONS OF 

CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, 

IS TOLD IN THESE PAGES 



CONTENTS 





Foreword ....... 


II 




Introduction ....... 


^5 




BOOK ONE 






The Rise of Protestantism in 






France 




I. 


The French Spirit ..... 


25 


II. 


The Huguenots in France 


38 


III. 


The French Exiles in Europe 


64 


IV. 


Suffering for the Faith .... 


74 


V. 




80 



I. 

II. 

III. 



BOOK TWO 

Early Attempts at Colonization 

Villegagnon's Failure in Brazil 
Disastrous Attempts in Florida 
The Huguenot Colony in Canada 



93 

98 

112 



BOOK THREE 

The French Protestants in 
America 

Part One — New England 

I. The First Comers 

II. The Oxford Settlement 

III. Gabriel Bernon 

IV. The Narragansett Settlement 

V. The French Church in Boston 

VI. Paul Revere 

VII. The Faneuil Family . 

VIII. The Bowdoins, Danas, and Other Families 

IX. A Description of Early Boston 

X. French Settlement in Maine 

XI. Huguenot Influence Upon Puritan Character 



125 

134 
143 
151 
157 
168 

173 
183 
192 
196 
202 



CONTENTS 



Part Two — The French in New York 

I. The Founders of New Amsterdam 

II. The French Church in New York 

III. New Rochelle, the Huguenot Settlement 

IV. John Jay, Statesman and Jurist . 

V. Alexander Hamilton, Statesman and Financier 

VI. Some Prominent Names .... 

VII. John and Stephen Gano 

VIII. New Paltz 



2IZ 

225 
231 
244 
252 
258 
279 
283 



Part Three — Pennsylvania and 
THE Southern States 

I. Pennsylvania and Delaware 

II. ElIAS BOUDINOT AND StEPHEN GiRARD 

III. The Bayards and Other Families 

IV. South Carolina 

V. Francis Marion, 

VI. The Huguenots in Virginia 

VII. John Sevier and His Brave Wife 

VIII. The Thrilling Experiences of an Exiled Family 



290 
301 
308 
322 
338 
345 >■ 

363 



Part Four — The French in Various 
Relations 

I. America's Debt to France During the Revolu- 

tion 377 

II. The Louisiana Purchase . . . . -383 

III. The French in Freemasonry .... 386 

IV. The Order of the Cincinnati .... 397 

V. French Leaders in Reform and Invention . . 400 

VI. Huguenot Home Life in America . . . 407 

VII. An Early French Estimate of American Char- 

acter . . . . . . . .416 

VIII. The French as a Factor in American Civilization 420 



Appendix 
Index 



429 
445 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing page 

Calvin, Coligny, Henry and Margaret of Navarre . . . Title 

La Rochelle: the Square 64 

Old Huguenot Chair and Boston State House .... 148 

Paul Revere, Portrait by Gilbert Stuart 168 

Peter Faneuil, from Portrait in Faneuil Hall .... 174' 

Faneuil Hall and the Old Feather Store 176 

The Faneuil Mansion on Tremont Street, Boston . . . 180 

Officers of the Huguenot Society of America .... 220 

The French Church in New York at the Present Time 224 

Original Bayard House and Rappelyea Estate in New 

York from Rare Old Prints 228 

Old Huguenot Houses at New Rochelle 234 

John Jay, First Justice of the Supreme Court .... 244 ' 

Alexander Hamilton 252 

General Richard Montgomery and Quebec 268 

Freneau, Thoreau, Whittier and Longfellow 272 

Old Huguenot Houses at New Paltz 284^ 

Admiral S. F. DuPont and the American Armada at Port 

Royal 314 

Gabriel Manigault and His Marot Psalm Book .... 322- 

Henry Laurens and Francis Marion 326 

Lafayette at Mount Vernon with Washington .... 380 

Elizabeth Hamilton, Sarah Jay, John Bayard, and Dr. 

Provoost 410 

9 



10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Professor Henry M. Baird, Huguenot Historian, and Rev- 
erend A. V. Whittmeyer, Founder of the Huguenot 
Society of America 418 

President Garfield, Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin, 
General John C. Fremont, General Robert Anderson, 
Admiral George Dewey, and Senator Robert LaFollette 422 

JOHANNIS DePeYSTER AND THE FaMILY PlATE 426 



FOREWORD 

THE purpose of this work is to trace the pres- 
ence and influence of the French Protestant 
blood in America, and to show how important a 
part it has had in the making of our Eepublic. In re- 
cent times no little attention has been given to the sub- 
ject of the Huguenots in America and their descendants. 
Credit for this is due chiefly to Dr. Henry M. Baird, 
whose history of the Huguenots is an authority on both 
sides of the Atlantic. His exhaustive work deals with 
France for the most part ; and his brother, Dr. Charles 
W. Baird, has undertaken to write in detail that part of 
the history which belongs to America. His task has not 
been completed, and his work is too elaborate and in- 
volved to secure general reading. Various local mono- 
graphs have been published, giving the history of some 
settlement or famous family, and a number of romances 
have dealt with the theme. But there is no single vol- 
ume which presents readably a comprehensive view of 
the Huguenots in France and their descendants in this 
country ; which reveals and estimates at its true value 
the Huguenot influence as a factor in American religious, 
social, and commercial life. 

The story of the courageous men and women who, for 
the sake of conscience and religious liberty, endured per- 
secution and exile, and found graves or made for them- 
selves homes in the New World, forms one of the most 
pathetic and at the same time fascinating and inspiring 
chapters of human experience. Inspiring, because in 
these trying experiences there was exhibited a nobility of 
character, a strength of soul, a superb quality of manhood 
and womanhood, that lends new dignity to human nature. 
Of this record every descendant of the Huguenots may 

11 



12 FOEEWOED 

well be proud. With this history every American 
should be familiar. It is time that America's indebted- 
ness to the French Protestants should be recognized. 

To understand the French Protestants in America it is 
necessary first to know them in France. The first part, 
therefore, is devoted to the rise of religious reform in 
France and the two centuries of war and persecution 
which killed off or drove out of France her best class of 
citizens, permanently weakened her as a nation, and 
paved the way for the French Eevolution. The second 
part gives account of the various disastrous attempts to 
found Huguenot colonies in North America ; and the 
third takes up the story with the beginnings at Plymouth, 
New Amsterdam, and Virginia, and traces it to the pres- 
ent time. The fourth part groups various matters of in- 
terest germane to the subject. 

This story has in it the elements of human interest that 
appeal to all classes and ages. It is the author's con- 
viction that the French who of late years have been 
pouring into New England and other sections of the 
United States may be greatly stimulated by the example 
of their fellow countrymen of an earlier day, and be led 
to prize more highly the opportunities opened to them 
and their children through American citizenship. It 
was the distinction and one source of the wide spread in- 
fluence of the early French settlers that they assimilated 
thoroughly and rapidly, as a rule, becoming American 
instead of striving to perpetuate race prejudice and pe- 
culiarity. In this way they undoubtedly lost recognition, 
but gained power as makers of the State. This lesson 
should not be lost on the French Canadians of to-day, 
who are sometimes wrongly advised to hold themselves 
aloof as a distinctive class. 

"While this work is intended for popular reading, great 
care has been taken to make it accurate and fair. Its 
facts have been gathered from every available source, 
and it would be impossible to give credit in detail. To 



FOEEWOED 13 

those who have extended courtesies in the obtaining of 
material, and aid in other ways, the author expresses his 
grateful appreciation. He acknowledges special obliga- 
tions to Professor Howard B. Grose, for services both in 
research and in preparing the volume for the press. 

The author's earnest desire is that this work may be a 
means to promote patriotism, quicken appreciation of 
civil and religious liberty, and heighten in the Americans 
of to-day a sense of their responsibility to preserve those 
rights and blessings which, as this record reveals, it cost 
the Huguenots so dearly to claim and defend in France, 
and which they helped the English Protestants to estab- 
lish fii'mly on our shores. As it was in the seventeenth 
century the mission of Protestant Christianity to found, 
so is it its mission in this twentieth century still further 
to develop and perpetuate, a free Eepublic in America ; 
and in this glorious mission the French Protestants have 
their full share. 

L. J. F. 

Boston, January, 1906, 



M 



INTRODUCTION 



ANY surprises are in store for the reader who surprises of 

^ Later History 

comes to these pages possessed merely of the 
ordinary knowledge as to who the Huguenots 
in America are and what they have done. More than 
one Puritan and Pilgrim tradition has had to be given up 
in the light of later historical research. But as the true 
character of the people is disclosed, there will be no be- 
grudging of the full meed of praise belonging to those 
French Protestants who, when driven from France, found 
in our laud a home and that religious liberty denied them 
in their own, and in return gave of their best to their 
adopted country. 

The whole number of the Huguenot emigrants to selected Men 
America was relatively small. Numerically, they occu- ^'^^ women 
pied a position of comparative insignificance among the 
founders of the Republic. But, as John Fiske says, "In 
determining the character of a community one hundred 
selected men and women are more potent than a thousand 
men and women taken at random." And the Huguenot 
refugees were ''selected," if ever a body of men and 
women had the right to be so called. For two hundred 
years France had been like a vast furnace ; the fires of 
persecution had been refining and testing until only the 
pure gold was left. For two hundred years the persecu- 
tion which had sought to destroy, had been cultivating, 
instead, those heroic virtues which enabled the small 
band of Huguenot refugees to America to write their 
names so large upon the honour roll of the Eepublic. 

15 



16 



INTEODUCTION 



Truly, the Huguenot emigrants were a selected people — 
selected for their love of liberty, their love of human 
rights, their devotion to principle, their unswerving loy- 
alty to conscience. Free America, Protestant America, 
owes a vast debt to these Protestants of France. 



Liberty and 
Protestantism 



Huguenots 
in England 



II 

Before giving a brief resume of the services which the 
Huguenots rendered directly, let us consider for a mo- 
ment the services they rendered indirectly, to the Amer- 
ican Eepublic, through England. Guided by Divine 
Providence, the persecuted Protestants of France proved 
themselves a power in shaping the larger destinies of the 
Eepublic. Eeading history in the light of to-day we can 
see that they helped to lay those foundations upon which 
the people of the 'New World have reared their structure 
of Protestant republicanism. The American Eepublic 
had its beginnings under England ; the hardy adolescence 
of the colonies was passed under the shadow of English 
political and religious institutions. American liberties 
grew out of Protestantism, and America was Protestant 
because England was Protestant. Now the Huguenot 
refugees helped to make England Protestant, and thus 
indirectly they helped to make America free. 

In the struggle between William of Orange and James 
II, when the fate of English Protestantism hung trem- 
bling in the balance, it was the Huguenot refugees who 
turned the scales. They formed the backbone of the 
staunch little army that followed William into England. 
"Amid the chilling delays on the part of the English 
people," wrote Michelet, " the army of William remained 
firm, and it was the Calvinistic element in it, the Calvin- 
istic Huguenots, that made it firm." They formed the 
unflinching nucleus around which the Protestant forces 
of England finally rallied to drive James out of the king- 
dom, thus removing the royal power from the grasp of 
Eome. "But the struggle was not over," says Gregg. 



INTRODUCTION 17 

'^ Louis XIV of France was mortified to think that his 
own refugees were the soul of this defeat. He determined 
to retrieve it. He fitted up an army and put James at 
the head of it. This army invaded Britain. It landed 
in the north of Ireland. There another battle was 
fought, the battle of the Boyne, and James was again 
and finally defeated. Who won that battle, the famous 
battle of the Boyne, which carried in it so much of the 3^^^,^ ^f 
future and gave to Protestantism the possession of the s^^fmber' 
British thi'one? A Huguenot. It was the Huguenot 
Schomberg who commanded the Protestant forces that 
day, and although he fell in the battle, he left the king- 
dom in the hands of William III. Thus it pleased the 
God of battles to use the persecuted and dispersed and 
down-trodden French refugees to turn the helm of the 
mightiest matters of destiny and to share in the glory of 
His providence over nations and over the march of 
truth." 

Ill 

England is now ready to bring its Protestantism with protestantism 
its republican principles over to the New World. This Romanism 
it does. And here it has another battle with Romanism. 
It has to meet the same foe that it met by the River 
Boyne, namely, the foe that persecuted the Huguenots. 
Rome determined to have this New World, and so 
through Spain took possession of South America, and 
thi'ough France took possession of North America. As 
far back as the landing of the Pilgrim fathers at Plym- 
outh Rock, Cardinal Richelieu founded New France in 
North America. He made this law: ''Everybody set- 
tling in New France must be a Catholic." None of the 
hated Huguenots was to be allowed to enter. This was 
done to checkmate Protestant England. The English 
and French met at Quebec and fought out the question, 
To whom shall America belong ? In the great battle of 
Quebec Montcalm led the French, Greneral Wolfe led the 



The decisive 



18 INTEODUCTION 

English. Montcalm fouglit for the old regime, Wolfe 
for the House of Commons ; Montcalm fought for alle- 
giance to king and priest, Wolfe for the habeas corpus 
and free inquiry ; Montcalm fought for the past, Wolfe 
for the future ; Montcalm fought for Louis XV, Wolfe 
for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Al- 
though both men were killed in that battle, Montcalm 
lost and Wolfe won. With the triumph of Wolfe com- 
menced the history of the United States. 

"France should have won that battle; she should 
'If" have held America for Rome. She had the advantage. 

She had Quebec as her Gibraltar and she had a chain of 
forts from Quebec through the heart of the country down 
through the Mississippi valley to the very city of New 
Orleans. She had also allies in many tribes of Indians 
whom she converted to Catholicism. She might have 
won that battle, if — and the Huguenots were in that if — 
if she had only used the forces against England which 
she used in persecuting and driving out the Huguenots 
from the home land. One historian says that ' the per- 
secution of the Huguenots in France called from America, 
the important centre of conflict, the forces that would in- 
evitably have torn from the American Protestants the 
fair heritage they now have.' " 

IV 
The exact value of the contribution of the French 
Intermarriage Protcstauts to the buildiug of the Ecpublic no human 

and Assimila- • -, .• -, ■ 

tion Wisdom can estimate, so early, so continuous, so complete 

was the assimilation of this people into the English 
colonial life. Intermarriage began before the Pilgrim or 
Puritan or Huguenot came to America, and it continued 
all through colonial years. The French refugees entered 
with earnestness and vigour into all the hopes and plans 
of the new nation. They gave property and life in be- 
half of the principles they had so eagerly championed in 
France. They faced danger and had their full share of 



INTEODUCTION 19 

suffering in the struggle for independence. A consider- 
able number of those of direct Huguenot descent were 
men of large influence whose ability was widely and 
cheerfully recognized, and whose names were enshrined 
in the grateful affections of the people. Of these refugees 
as a whole body Henry Cabot Lodge speaks as follows : 
" I believe that, in proportion to their numbers, the 
Huguenots produced and gave to the American Eepublic 
more men of ability than any other race." 

This statement may, at first, be met with incredulity, f^ in^ex"^" 
but a little investigation of the facts will soon convince 
one of its correctness. Faneuil Hall, '' cradle of liberty," 
is an index to the part which Huguenots have played in 
American life. Its four walls have heard the advocacy 
of every great cause pertaining to the upbuilding of 
America. Standing in Boston, the old city of the Amer- 
ican Revolution, it is a constant rebuke to all that is low 
and degrading in national life, and a constant inspira- 
tion to every brilliant conception in the American mind 
that makes for patriotism. The name of Faneuil 
awakens many precious memories ; thoughts of Hugue- 
not patriots crowd thick and fast. There was Paul 
Eevere, a leader of the Boston Tea Party and the hero of 
the famous ''midnight ride" ; Eichard Dana, the peo- 
ple's champion in their fight against the Stamp Act ; 
James Bowdoin, who proved himself a thorn in the flesh Eminent 
of the royal governors ; General Francis Marion, '' Swamp ^J^g^uans 
Fox" ; Gabriel Manigault, whose generosity saved the 
colonial government from bankruptcy ; and a host of 
others. A Huguenot was the first president of the 
Colonial Congress, and out of the seven presidents of 
that body no less than three were Huguenots — Henry 
Laurens, John Jay, andElias Boudinot. 

No name in American history has greater prominence 
and honour than the name of John Jay, the first chief 
justice of the nation, and president of the Continental 
Congress, president of the American Bible Society, presi- 



20 



INTRODUCTION 



Three 
Presidents 



A Fine Char- 
acterization 



dent of the earliest society for the emancipation of the 
slaves, and signer of the treaty of peace which brought 
the Eevolutionary War to a successful close. Close be- 
side Jay stands Alexander Hamilton, a Huguenot on his 
mother's side. With his genius for organization, his 
ability as a financier, and his abundant patriotism, he 
carved a niche for himself on a level with the greatest 
statesmen of his day. In the history of the American 
navy appears no more heroic spirit than that of Stephen 
Decatur. In the Mexican and Civil Wars the Huguenot 
blood was represented by Admiral Dupont, General 
John C. Fremont, and General John F. Reynolds, and in 
the Spanish War by Admirals George Dewey and Win- 
field Scott Schley. 

Descendants of the Huguenots have been prominent in 
other walks of life. Among statesmen may be mentioned 
Presidents Tyler, Garfield and Roosevelt ; John Sevier, 
"the commonwealth builder" ; Thomas Francis Bayard, 
and a host of others. In law and medicine their names 
are of frequent occurrence. Stephen Girard, Christopher 
Roberts, Matthew Vassar, James Bowdoin and Thomas 
Hopkinson Gallaudet stand out as philanthropists and 
promoters of education. The names of Maury, Dana 
and Le Conte stand high in the list of American scien- 
tists. Such men as William Heathcote De Lancey, Hosea 
Ballou and William Hague were leaders in the church. 
While in literature are to be counted such names as 
Philip Freneau, Henry D. Thoreau, Henry W. Long- 
fellow, and John G. Whittier. 

Of the Huguenots it has been well said : '' There have 
been few people on earth so upright and single minded, 
so faithful in the discharge of their duties towards God 
and man, so elevated in aim, so dignified in character. 
The enlightened, independent, firm, God-fearing spirit of 
the French Protestants has blended its influence with 
that of the Puritan to form our national character and to 
establish those civil and religious institutions by which 



INTEODUCTION 2i 

we are distinguished and blessed above all peoples." So 
skilled were they in the arts, such a spirit of economy 
and thrift characterized them, such loyalty had they to 
the principles of our national life, such sane and tolerant 
views in religious matters, such uprightness and excel- 
lence and nobility of character, such high and command- 
ing genius in statesmanship, that their presence, even 
though they formed but a small body as to numbers and 
were so assimilated as to sink their identity in the com- 
mon body, exerted a moulding and ennobling influence 
upon the entire fabric of our national life. Deserving of 
high honour are Puritan and Pilgrim. Let orator and 
historian continue to sound their praises. But side by 
side with them, sharers in their sufferings, partakers of 
their perils, distinguished helpers in their great labours, 
stimulating and inspiring, stood a smaller company 
whose life and deeds and spirit were also important 
factors in giving this land those institutions of civil and 
religious liberty by means of which she is steadily ful- 
filling her high mission and successfully working out her 
great destiny. 



BOOK ONE 

THE RISE OF PROTESTANTISM 
IN FRANCE 



CHAPTER I 
THE FRENCH SPIRIT 



JOAN OF ARC stands foremost among the renowned joan of Arc 
and remarkable figures of history. Every French- 
man is proud of her name and fame. Wherever pa- 
triotism, valour, consecration and faith are honoured, the 
Maid of Orleans finds veneration. It is fitting that she 
should have first place in this work, which undertakes to 
trace the French blood in America and tell of its achieve- 
ments as represented by the Protestant element that came 
from the Old World to the New. To understand the na- 
ture of this element it is necessary to go back to the 
mother country and learn what it was there ; to trace the 
beginning and rise of the independent reform spirit in 
religion which led to the Huguenot faith, persecutions 
and exile. 

In this study one is led back further than Luther and ^he Fore- 
Calvin, the great Protestant Reformers whose names R^e'fSrmers*"' 
overshadow all others. The forerunner of the Protes- 
tants is found in Joan of Arc. She was a martyr to her 
faith, as dauntless as any that ever died rather than deny 
and recant religious belief. She refused to consider her- 
self unchurched, in spite of ecclesiastical oppression and 
cruelty, which relentlessly encompassed her death at the 
stake ; so that she may fairly be called an unconscious 
Protestant — a true leader upholding the right of the in- An 

,..,, . . ,, r, ■,. . .^■. Unconscious 

dividual conscience in matters of religion. The same Protestant 
spirit was in Joan of Arc that moved Calvin and Coligny 
and the tens of thousands of brave and noble French 
who were willing to suffer, to leave homes and posses- 
sions, to endure exile, but would not surrender their 
rights of conscience and their religious liberty. 

25 



26 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



A Turning 
Point for 
France 
1439 A. D. 



A Strange 
Volunteer 



Visions and 
Voices 



II 

Early in the fifteenth century clouds and darkness had 
settled over France. A critical point had been reached 
in the nation's life. War was in progress with England, 
and the fortunes of France were low. English conquest 
seemed certain. An incompetent king, Charles VII, 
was disliked by the nobility and distrusted by the peo- 
ple. Paris had fallen into the enemy's hands, and an 
English army was besieging Orleans. It was "one of 
the turning points in the history of nations." 

At this junction there came to the French commander 
a volunteer, declaring that she had a commission from 
God to restore to the king of France his kingdom. 
Never in the records of history was there a more singular 
volunteer or declaration. For this new ally, this "war- 
rior " from Lorraine, intent on such mighty mission, was 
a country girl, modest and retiring by nature, simple- 
hearted and deeply religious, who had spun and knitted 
with her mother at home, and helped her brothers tend 
the peaceful herds among her native hills. Joan of Arc 
was born in 1412 in the village of Domremy, in the 
northeastern part of France, on the borders of Lorraine 
and Champagne. From her early years she had displayed 
an unusual Christian fervour, which led to her being re- 
garded as peculiar, though she was most exemplary in 
conduct, pure and artless. She began to hear voices, as 
she called them, by the time she was thirteen. In the 
quiet home life, out in the fields or at her weaving, she 
experienced moments of religious exaltation. At such 
times she saw visions and dreamed dreams, and heard the 
solemn voices bidding her ' ' go forth to the help of the 
King of France," She became so filled with the idea 
that she was divinely called to deliver her country from 
the English foe that she could not resist the impulse to 
act. Simple girl that she was, in 1429, when she was but 
seventeen, Joan was inspired with the belief that if she 
could get command of the French army, God and sue- 



THE FRENCH SPIRIT 27 

cess would go with her, and the English be driven from 
Orleans and France. Persevering and dauntless, urged ^P^j^^^fg^ 
on by the voices sounding in her ears, she overcame 
seemingly insurmountable obstacles, until at length she 
reached audience with the French officer in command. 
No wonder he thought her mad, the victim of religious 
delusion. The real wonder is that he, commander of 
men, soldier and not sentimentalist, was at last so stirred 
by her spirit and story, and by something in her person- 
ality which he could not fathom, that he decided to send 
her with armed escort to the King. 

This was the direct result of Joan's visions. St. Mich- 
ael appeared to her in a flood of light and told her 
to go to the help of the King, and restore to him his 
realm. This she must do, since it was God's will. She 

Overcoming 

had not only to persuade the commander but to meet Bitter 
opposition on all sides. Her father, when he heard of 
her audacious purpose, threatened to drown her, but 
without effect. Her appeals for aid to reach the King 
were again and again refused with contempt. But she 
persisted. "I must go to the King, even if I wear my 
limbs to the very knees. I had far rather rest and spin 
by my mother's side, for this is no work of my choosing ; 
but I must go and do it." 

They asked, thinking to confuse her, "Who is your 
Lord?" "He is God," was her reply. The theologians 
proved to their own satisfaction from their books that 
they ought not to believe her, but they could not move 
her. " There is more in God's books than in yours," she 
said. And by and by the French officer was sufficiently 
impressed to give her at least her coveted chance to make 
her strange story known to the King. 

So at last she was ushered into the presence of the as Maid and 
yet uncrowned monarch, and a strange scene it was. ^°°^^'^^ 
This country girl, never before away from her simple 
home surroundings, appeared not the least daunted by 
the ordeal of a court presentation. She bad a mission, 



28 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



A Bold 
Declaration 



Placed 

in 

Command 



and was so intent upon that as to give little heed to aught 
else. With the simplicity of a true greatness, she kuelt 
before her sovereign and said modestly, yet with utmost 
assurance, ' ' Gentle Dauphin, my name is Joan the Maid. 
The heavenly King sends me to declare that you shall be 
anointed and crowned in the town of Eheims, and you 
shall be lieutenant of the heavenly King, who is the 
King of France." 

Imagine the scene and the sensation this created. The 
impression was profound. The King did not readily 
come to this cod elusion, however. Her proposition to 
have troops placed under her command, that she might 
lead them to Orleans and raise the siege, was plainly 
absurd. Her persistency in it, and her calm assurance 
in her success, convinced him that she was possessed by 
a devil. She admitted that she was only a poor shepherd 
girl, not a soldier. ^ ' I am a poor maid, ' ' she said frankly. 
"I know not how to ride to the wars, or to lead men to 
arms." 

The King was moved. He was in too dire straits to 
turn aside lightly any offer of help. This one seemed 
childish, yet there was something in the character and 
confidence of the Maid that gained friends for her, and 
her case was turned over to the parliament and university 
authorities at Poitiers. 

Having made this point, Joan said: "I know well 
that I shall have hard work to do at Poitiers, but my 
Master will aid me. Let me go, then, in God's name." 
The learned doctors were amazed at the simplicity and 
force of her answers. Asked what signs she had, she 
replied: "Give me some men at arms and lead me to 
Orleans, and I will then show you signs. The sign I am 
to give you is to raise the siege of Orleans." The doc- 
tors decided in her favour, and the King placed her in 
command of the army. 

Nothing was wanting to make the scene dramatic. 
Arrayed in white armour on a black horse, with a small 



THE FEENCH SPIEIT 29 

axe in her hand, the maid of Orleans rode forth, attended 
by two pages, two heralds, a chaplain, valets, and special 
guards. An army of ten thousand followed her from 
Chiuon. They were rough men, but her influence over 
them was remarkably restraining. Her common sense 
was as strong as her imagination. She seemed super- 
natural to the soldiers, as she led them forward against 
the English who held Orleans in siege. Her enthusiasm 
and fearlessness were electrifying. She displayed skill in 
the management of forces, including artillery, that as- 
tonished experienced generals. Under such leadership 
the French were irresistible, and the maid's prediction 
that she would deliver Orleans and restore to the King of 
France his kingdom was fulfilled. 

in 

The coronation of the Dauphin at Eheims soon took 1?*°'* . 

'■ Prediction 

place. Then Joan considered her mission ended and Fulfilled 
asked leave to go home, saying, "O gentle King, the 
pleasure of God is done." But the archbishop urged 
her to remain. "Would it were the King's pleasure," 
she said, "that I might go and keep sheep once more 
with my sisters and brothers ; they would be so glad to 
see me again." She was not permitted to leave, and 
engaged afterwards in several battles and sieges, but her 
conviction was that the chief mission was performed. 
At the coronation she had occupied the highest place. 
She was hailed as the saviour of her country. Briefly 
she enjoyed the high honour rightly hers, and then began 
the tragedy which was to be a lasting infamy to France. 
She was beti^ayed into the hands of the English, who shameful 
looked upon her as a sorcerer. She was brought to Eouen ^^trayai 
in chains, cast into a cell, and fastened by a large iron 
chain to a beam. So afraid were her captors that she 
would elude them by miracle that they caused this help- 
less girl to sleep with double chains round her limbs so 



30 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



A Form 
of Trial 



A Real 
Protest 



Travesty 

of 

Justice 



that she could not stir, while three armed men guarded 
her by day and night. 

At length she w,as brought to trial. The bishop of 
Beauvais presided, and all the judges were ecclesiastics. 
The trial lasted for about a year. Every effort was made 
to entangle the maid, but she met her judges successfully 
at every point. They asked : "Do you believe you are 
in a state of peace?" She replied : "If I am not God 
will put me in it." They argued that God had forsaken 
her as her capture proved. She replied, "Since it has 
pleased God that I should be taken, it is for the best." 
They demanded : " Will you submit to the Church Mili- 
tant?" "I have come to the King of France," replied 
Joan, "by commission from the Church Triumphant 
above; to that church I submit." She closed with in- 
tense feeling ; "I had far rather die than renounce what 
I have done by my Lord's commands." They deprived 
her of mass. She said weeping: "The Lord can make 
me hear it without your aid." The judges asked her: 
"Do your voices forbid you to submit to the church and 
the pope?" When she saw the judges all against her 
she said: "I hold to my Judge, the King of heaven 
and earth. God has always been my Lord in what I 
have done. The devil has never had any power over me." 

Nothing was too base to attempt in order to secure a 
conviction. A vile priest was engaged to secure Joan's 
confidence in the hope that she might make admissions 
that could be used against her as evidence. The King she 
had placed upon the throne left her unaided. "What were 
the charges brought against her ? Principally these : 
That she had in a wicked manner, and contrary to the 
divine law, dressed herself in men's clothes, and com- 
mitted murders with weapons of war ; that she had repre- 
sented herself to the simple people as a messenger of God, 
initiated in the secrets of Providence ; and that she was 
suspected of many other dangerous errors and culpable 
acts against the divine majesty. Was there ever a greater 



THE FEENCH SPIRIT 31 

travesty on justice ! Of course her conviction was a fore- 
gone conclusion. On such flimsy charges the doctors of 
the University of Paris declared gravely : ^ 

She has ofEended beyond measure the honour of God, abjured the Charges 
faith in a manner not to be expressed, and extraordinarily defiled the slander 
church. By her idolatry, false doctrine and other innumerable crimes 
have invaded the soil of France ; never, in the memory of man, would 
so great hurfc have been given to our holy religion, and such damage 
to the kingdom, as if they veere to let her escape without satisfying 
the ends of justice. But were they to deliver up the maid, they would 
obt-ain the grace and love of God, and at the same time augment 
the glory of the faith and splendour of their noble and illustrioua 
names. 

IV 

The venerable doctors of the University, with the 
Bishop Beauvais, visited her from time to time to ex- 
amine her, and to torture her with their questions. On 
one occasion they exhorted her to make her submission ; 
they quoted Scripture, but without success. 

As they were leaving the prison one hissed to Joan : Joan's 
' ' If you refuse to submit to the church, the church will Position 
abandon you as if you were a Saracen." To this she 
replied : *'I am a good Christian — a Christian born and 
baptized — and a Christian I shall die. " Before the bishop 
left his victim he made another attempt to make her sub- 
mit, presenting a bait that he thought would be sure to 
catch her, namely, permission to receive the eucharist. 
Said he: "As you desire the eucharist, will you, if 
you are allowed to do so, submit yourself to the 
church?" To this Joan replied: ''As to that sub- 
mission I can give no other answer than I have already 
given you. I love God. Him I serve as a good Chris- 
tian should. Were I able I would help the church with 
all my strength." 

Some of the judges requested that in a more public Public 
place than in her prison, Joan should be again admonished 
relating to the crimes of which she was accused ; and the 



32 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Threat of 
Torture 



The 

Heroic 
Spirit 



The 
Sentence 



bishop accordingly summoned a public meeting of the 
judges to be held in the chamber near the Great Hall. 
On that occasion sixty -two judges were i) resent. A cele- 
brated doctor of theology, a man of great eloquence, pre- 
sented the case and sought to break down Joan's will. 
The bishop admonished her that if she did not obey the 
advice given she would jeopardize her body and soul. 
He said all faithful Christians must conform to the church, 
and after arguing at length closed by saying that by not 
conforming to the holy church she placed herself in the 
power of the church to condemn and burn her as a 
heretic. She boldly answered : "I will not say aught 
else than I have already spoken, and were I even to see 
the fire I should say the same." 

Then threat of bodily torture was tried. Joan was 
taken into the inquisitorial chamber, where ranged round 
the circular walls were the instruments of torture. The 
bishop of Cauchon, after an exhortation, said : ' ' Kow, 
Joan, if you refuse to speak the truth, you will be put to 
the tortui'e. You see before you the instruments pre- 
pared, and by them stand the executioners ready to do 
their of&ce at our command. You will be tortured in 
order that you may be led into the way of truth, and for 
the salvation of body and soul, which you by your lies 
have exposed to so great a peril. ' ' Here was the severest 
test she had been exposed to. But her course rose to the 
moral sublimity of the Christian martyr. She said : 
" Even if you tear me limb from limb, and even if you 
kill me, I will not tell you anything further. And even 
were I forced to do so, I should afterwards declare that 
it was only because of the torture that I had spoken 
differently." 

An elaborate sentence by her judges was pronounced 
against her. This is part of it : 

Apostate after having cut her hair short, which was given her by 
God to hide her head with, and also having abandoned the dress of a 
woman for that of man ; vicious and a soothsayer, for saying without 



THE FEENCH SPIEIT 



33 



showing miracles, that she is sent by God, as was Moses and John the 
Baptist ; rebel to the holy faith by remaining under the anathema 
framed by the canons of the church, and by not receiving the sacra- 
ments of the church at the season set apart by the church, in order not 
to have to cease wearing the dress of a man ; blasphemous in saying 
that she knows she will be received into paradise. Therefore, if after 
having been charitably warned she refuses to re-enter the Catholic 
faith, and thereby give satisfaction, she shall be given over to the sec- 
ular judges and meet with the punishment due to her crimes. 

The sentence was pronounced that Joan of Arc be put 
to death by fire, as a heretic. Her judges declared : 

By our present sentence, which, seated in tribunal, we utter and Decree 
pronounce in this writing, we denounce thee as a rotten member, and Death 
that thou mayest not vitiate others, as cast out from the unity of the 
church, separate from the body, abandoned to the secular power as, 
indeed, by these presents, we do cast thee off, separate and abandon 
thee ; — praying this same secular power, so far as concerns death and 
the mutilation of the limbs, to moderate its judgment towards thee, 
and, if true signs of penitence should appear in thee, to permit that 
Sacrament of penance be administered to thee. 



When the maid heard the sentence from the bishop, Appeal 

■^ ' for a 

she exclaimed, " Alas, am I to be treated so horribly and soidier-s 
cruelly 1 Must my body, pure as from birth, and never 
contaminated, be this day consumed and reduced to ashes ? 
I would rather be beheaded seven times over than on this 
wise. Oh ! I make my appeal to God, the great Judge of 
the wrongs and grievances done to me. Bishop, I die 
through you." 

On the 24th of May, 1431, two lofty scaflfolds were 
erected, on which were to be seated cardinals, doctors, 
inquisitors and bishops, to feast their eyes in seeing the 
burning of Joan of Arc. On the other scaffold was to be 
placed the victim, with the fuel somewhat below, so the 
flames would rise and envelop her. 

The execution was ordered to be carried into effect. 
She was covered with a long white garment such as crim- 
inals and victims of the Inquisition were generally arrayed 



The 
Execution 



34 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Last 
Words 
of the 
Martyr 



in. On her head was placed a mitre-shaped paper cap, 
on which were inscribed '^apostate, idolatress." She 
was placed in a cart on which two priests mounted with 
her, accompanied by eight hundred troops marching 
along the road. A discourse was delivered by a monk by 
the name of Midi. After the sermon the preacher added : 
"Joan, the church, wishing to prevent infliction, casts 
you out of her. She no longer protects you, depart in 
peace." The bishop of Beauvais, the vile wretch who 
presided at her trial, was present still to torment her, and 
said : "We reject you, we cast you off, we abandon you 
according to the usual formula of the Inquisition." She 
ascended the platform and a chain was placed around her 
to fasten her to the stake. She exclaimed : " Oh, Eouen, 
must I die here ? I have great fear lest you will suffer 
for my death." The fire was kindled. She saw it and 
shrieked. While the flames began to roll around her she 
cried out for water, and cried on God, and then said ; 
"My voices have not deceived me." Her last words 
were "Jesus — Jesus ! " Then her head fell on her breast 
and her pure spirit went to paradise. Many were melted 
to tears, and even the rude soldiers cried : "We are lost ; 
we have burned a saint. Would God, my soul were where 
hers is now." 



Estimates of 
Historians 



Green 



DeQuincy 



V 

The eminent English historian, Eichard Henry Green, 
says : ' ' The one pure figure which rises out of the greed 
and lust, the selfishness and unbelief of the time, is the 
figure of Joan of Arc." 

In one of his most powerful essays DeQuincy deals with 
this subject. This is his conclusion from the facts: 
"Never from the foundation of the earth was there such 
a trial as this, if it were laid open in all its beauty of de- 
fense, and all its hellishness of attack. Oh, child of 
France ! shepherdess ! peasant girl trodden under foot by 
all around thee 5 how I honour thy flashing intellect, as 



THE FEENCH SPIRIT 35 

God's lightning to its mark, that ran before France and 
laggard Eui'ope by many a century, confounding the mal- 
ice of the ensnarer, and making dumb the oracles of false- 
hood." 

To these estimates we add that of Mark Twain, who has ciemens 
made one of the most discriminating studies of the Maid 
of Orleans, and given his mature conclusions in a recent 
article entitled "Saint Joan of Arc." After a masterly 
review of her military career — "the briefest epoch-mak- 
ing military career known to history," lasting only a year 
and a month — he says : 

"That this untrained young creature's genius for war a Genius 
was wonderful, and her generalship worthy to rank with 
the ripe products of a tried and trained military expe- 
rience, we have the sworn testimony of two of her veteran 
subordinates — one, the Due d' Alengon, the other the great- 
est of the French generals of the time, Dunois, Bastard 
of Orleans ; that her genius was as great — possibly even 
greater — in the subtle warfare of the forum, we have for 
witness the records of the Rouen Trials, that protracted 
exhibition of intellectual fence maintained with credit 
against the master-minds of France ; that her moral great- 
ness was peer to her intellect we call the Rouen Trials 
again to witness, with their testimony to a fortitude which 
patiently and steadfastly endured during twelve weeks 
the wasting forces of captivity, chains, loneliness, sick- 
ness, darkness, hunger, thirst, cold, shame, insult, abuse, 
broken sleep, treachery, ingratitude, exhausting sieges of 
cross-examination, the threat of torture, with the rack 
before her and the executioner standing ready : yet never 
surrendering, never asking quarter, the frail wreck of her 
as unconquerable the last day as was her invincible spirit 
the first. 

" From the verdict (of Rehabilitation, twenty-five years The wondor 
after she had been condemned and burned by the Church 
as a witch and familiar of evil spirits) she rises stainlessly 
pure in mind and heart, iu speech and deed and spirit, 



36 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

and will so endure to the end of time. She is the Won- 
der of the Ages. All the rules fail in this girl's ease. In 
the world's history she stands alone — quite alone. . . . 
There is no one to compare her with, none to measure her 
by. . . . There is no blemish in that rounded and 
beautiful character. . . . Taking into account all the 
circumstances — her origin, youth, sex, illiteracy, early 
environment, and the obstructing conditions under which 
she exploited her high gifts and made her conquests in 
the field and before the courts that tried her for her life, 
— she is easily and by far the most extraordinary person 
the human race has ever produced." 

Reversing the Twcuty ycars after the martyrdom it was concluded to 
attempt to revise the process. The then reigning pope 
pronounced the charges against Joan to be utterly false. 
He appointed the Archbishop of Rheims and two prelates 
to inquire into the trial, aided by an inquisitor to attend 
to that work. The decision of the prelates was that her 
visions came from God. They pronounced her trial at 
Rouen to have been wicked, and that she was free from 
any blame. The church had decided against the maid, 
and now it concluded to turn around. Thus the investi- 
gation resulted in the declaration of her innocence, or re- 
habilitation. In 1431 she was pronounced to be in league 
with the devil, a heretic, an idolatress, and was burned at 
the stake. In 1456 the French clergy, with the sanction 
of the pope, declared the memory of Joan of Arc free from 
all taint of heresy and idolatry. And now, by that same 
church, which would claim so illustrious a personage as 
its own, Joan has been canonized as a saint. 

It is in view of all the facts that Joan of Arc is called 
a genuine Protestant martyr, although the term Protestant 
had not then come into use. She embodied the Protestant 
principle, as did Huss and Savonarola and Wycliff. As 
an American writer says : 

tlTth ^r"** ' ' Joan of Arc was thus in the same position before this 

tribunal that Luther was before the Diet of Worms. Her 



THE FEENCH SPIlilT 



37 



language and his were identical, except that he spoke of 
the Word of God in Scripture, where she spoke of the 
Voice of God in her soul. Both wished to obey the 
church. This was God, speaking to the soul or speaking 
in the Scripture. The time came to Joan when the church 
said : ' Deny the Voices of God in your heart.' The time 
came to Luther when the church said : ' Deny the Word 
of God in the Bible.' Then both became virtually Prot- 
estants, and obeyed the higher law as against the lower 
one. The girl of Domremy was a Protestant before the 
Eeformation." And her spirit was to live again in the 
Huguenots. 




ite^tf OrUans 



T 



CHAPTEE II 
THE HUGUENOTS IN FRANCE 



Delne^d °* ^Tj ^ ^^ ^^^"^ ' ' Huguenot, ' ' as it is applied in history, 
and as it is to be understood throughout this 
book, means a member of the Protestant evan- 
gelical party in France. It is therefore equivalent to the 
expression used in the Edict of Nantes and other royal 
edicts, '' member of the Pretended Reformed Religion." 
The Huguenot Church was the Reformed Church of 
France, 
orig^inofthe The Origin of the word has been lost in obscurity, but 
many theories have been advanced as to its derivation ; 
among which are the following : 

1. Hugou's tower at Tours, a place where the early 
Protestants secretly assembled for religious worship. 

2. Heghenen, or huguenen, a Flemish word equivalent 
to Puritans. 

3. Says Verdier, in his Prosopographic, ' ' Les Hugue- 
nots ont ete ainsi appelez de Jean Hus, duquel Us ont suivi 
la doctrine ; comme qui dirait les Gnenons de Hus. ' ' (The 
Huguenots were so called from John Huss, whose doctrine 
they followed ; as one would say, the disciples of Huss.) 

4. Hues qiienaus, which signifies in the Swiss patois, a 
seditious people. 

5. Benoit observes that some supposed the term had 
originated from an incorrect pronunciation of the word 
gnostic. 

The 6. The most generally received etymology is traced to 

the word Eignot, derived from the German Eid-genossen — 
federati, confederates or allied. There was a party thus 
designated at Greueva. 

38 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FRANCE 39 

7. The word Huguenot was not applied to the E«- 
formed Church of France as a distinctive epithet until 
about 1560. Then the term was applied to the whole 
political party which supported the claims of Henry of 
Navarre to the crown. It was intended as a reproach, 
and soon became synonymous with Eeformer. Cardinal 
Richelieu captured the city of Eochelle, the stronghold 
of the Protestants, and by 1628 had broken up the 
political organization of the Huguenots, leaving only the 
religious organization as the bond of union for the Re- 
formed in religion. In 1660 the religious organization 
was also practically wiped out of existence by the 
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. But the name and 
the Reformed religion have both survived in France, 
while the descendants of the Reformers have spread their 
influence around the globe. 

n 

Early in the sixteenth century the corruptions and corruption in 
abuses of the Roman Catholic Church in France be- ^^^^'^"'"'^^ 
came so wide spread that thinking men could no longer 
remain blind to them, but were forced to recognize that 
ignorance, superstition and immorality prevailed through- 
out the whole organization. 

The immorality of the clergy was notorious. So bad 
were the lives of most of the ecclesiastics that the ex- 
pressions ''Idle as a priest" and ''Lewd and greedy as 
a monk" became popular proverbs. From bishop to 
friar the spiritual leaders of the people were debauched 
and corrupt. The great dignitaries of the church gave immorality 
themselves up to a life of pleasure on a magnificent ofthe^curgy^' 
scale ; no courtier could outrival them in their luxurious 
dissipation, their banquets, drinking bouts, games and 
revels. The only care of the priests was to extort as 
much money out of the people as they could possibly 
squeeze, and they saw to it that none of their wealth was 
wasted in helping the poor and distressed. Like their 



40 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

superiors they were devoted body and soul to a ceaseless 
round of sensual pleasures. The monastic orders were 
no better, and filth and gluttony rioted among them. 
In speaking of them, a contemporary Romish writer 
says: "Generally the monks elected the most jovial 
companion, him who was the most fond of women, dogs, 
and birds, the deepest drinker — in short, the most dis- 
sipated ; and this in order that, when they had made 
him abbot or prior, they might be permitted to indulge 
in similar debauch and pleasure." 

The ignorance of the clergy in spiritual matters was 
equalled only by their debauchery. A few scraps of 
Vulgate Latin with which to conduct the mass, a slender 
stock of "Aves" and "Paters," sufficed for the rank 
and file of the priesthood. Of the Bible they literally 
knew nothing at all. But this cannot be wondered at 
when even the professed teachers of theology showed a 
marvellous ignorance of the Holy Scriptures. Robert 
Etienne, a famous scholar and printer who was born in 
1503, wrote as follows concerning the Biblical knowledge 
of the theologians of the Sorbonne : "In those times, as 
I can affirm with truth, when I asked them in what part of 
The New the Ncw Tcstamcut some matter was written, they used 

Testament ^ ■ -r • i 

Unknown to auswcr that they had read it in Saint Jerome or m the 
Decretals, but that they did not know what the New 
Testament was, not being aware that it was customary 
to print it after the Old. What I am going to state will 
appear almost a prodigy, and yet there is nothing more 
true nor better proven : Not long since, a member of 
their college used daily to say, I am amazed that these 
young people keep bringing up the New Testament to 
us. I was more than fifty years old before I knew any- 
thing about the New Testament ! " 

If the theologians had such a slight acquaintance 
\ with the teachings of Christ the people could well be for- 
given for not having any knowledge at all of Him. 
There was no translation of the Bible into French, and 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FRANCE 41 

as the popular education of that day did not include 
Greek or Hebrew, the Gospels remained safely hidden 
from the French people. 

Superstition flourished in the soil prepared by im- superstition 
morality and ignorance. The worship of a living God Limit°" 
was swallowed up in reverence for the relics of saints 
and for pictures and statues of them. There seemed to 
be no limit to the popular credulity, and the grossest de- 
ceptions aroused no suspicions among the faithful. In 
one church the hair of the Virgin was to be seen, in an- 
other the people were accustomed to worship the sword 
of the archangel Michael, in still another the veritable 
stones with which St. Stephen was killed were carefully 
preserved. Indeed there were enough of these stones in 
the churches of France to furnish sufiicient material for 
a respectable wall, just as there were so many crowns of 
thorns as to lead one to believe that a whole hedge must 
have been used in the making of them. St. Dionysius' 
body lay in state at Ratisbon as well as at Saint Denis, 
but he was no more fortunate in this respect than the 
other saints, most of whom could boast of having two or 
three bodies ; and much less so than the apostles, who 
were all credited with having at least four bodies apiece, 
besides numerous and seemingly unnecessary duplicate 
finger and toe joints. The extreme to which this wor- 
ship of relics was carried may be seen from the following 
partial list of the treasures of the Sainte Chapelle in 
Paris : the crown of thorns, Aaron's rod that budded, 
the great crown of St. Louis, the head of the holy lance, 
one of the nails used in our Lord's crucifixion, the tables 
of stone, some of the blood of Christ, the purple robe, 
and the milk of the Holy Virgin. 

But the superstitions fostered by the church were not 
confined to a belief in marvellous relics. The people popular 
were stimulated to fresh zeal and increased contributions ^'■*'^"'**y 
by means of miracles which caused great amazement 
everywhere except in the minds of the ingenious priests 



42 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



who got them up. A fair example of these ''miracles" 
is that of the well-known ' ' ghost of Orleans. ' ' A wealthy 
lady, having died, was buried without the usual gifts for 
the welfare of her soul being made to the church. The 
Franciscans of that city accordingly hit upon a scheme 
to make use of her for purpose of warning to others who 
might also be tempted to forget the church in their wills. 
A series of distinct tappings was heard to issue from her 
tomb, and these were explained to the awe-struck people 
as signs of her approaching doom and of her desire to 
have her heresy-polluted body removed from consecrated 
ground. Unfortunately for their plans, one of their 
number was discovered hidden above the ceiling whence 
the mysterious sounds had come. But for every one of 
these impostures which was exposed there were a hun- 
dred which were widely credited as veritable miracles. 



The First 
Reformers 



LeFevre 



Farel 



III 

Guillaume Brigonnet, Bishop of Meaux, was among 
the number who realized how urgent was the need of re- 
forming the church. Eesolving to commence the work 
of reformation in his own diocese, he invited to Meaux a 
small handful of able and earnest men whom he knew to 
be advocates of a purer and more spiritual Christianity. 
Among them was the famous scholar Jacques LeFevre, 
of Staples, and his no less famous pupil, Guillaume 
Farel, whose staunch heart put courage and good cheer 
into his comrades. The teacher had prophetic insight. 
Before the close of the fifteenth century, the amiable 
Professor LeFevre said one day to Farel, ''My dear 
William, God will renew the world ; and you will see 
it." Dissatisfied with his own attainments in religion, 
and with the standard of knowledge and piety around 
him, this great scholar had begun to drink from the 
pure fountain of the Gospel of Christ in the original 
language, and was giving out liberal draughts to those at- 
tending upon his lectures. 



THE HUGUEI^OTS IN FEANCE 43 

The Bible was the cause of the Eeformation in France, 
as in all lands. In the fifteenth century an eager demand 
had sprung up in France for the Scriptui^es, editions of 
which had been printed in Antwerp, some versions in 
French for the Walloons. The translation that super- Effect of the 

^ Bible 

seded all others in French was made by LeFevre, who 
may on this account be ranked as the first of the Hugue- 
nots. The effects were the same wherever the Book 
appeared. It was the accidental sight of a copy of one 
of Gutenberg's Bibles in the library of the Erfurt con- 
vent that transformed local monk Luther into the Protes- 
tant World Reformer. So in France, the reading of the 
Bible by the people was followed by an immediate reac- 
tion against the superstition, indifferentism and impiety 
which generally prevailed. There was a sudden awaken- 
ing to a new religious life. The sentiment of right was 
created, and a new sense of manhood was born. 

Under the protection of Margaret of Angouleme, wife 
of the King of Navarre and only sister to Francis I, King 
of France, the reformation at Meaux proceeded with great 
rapidity. The gospel was preached from the pulpits, and 
copies of the Bible were spread broadcast among the 
people. In the pure light of God's Word the gross 
superstitions of the Eomish church faded as mists before 
the sun, and the inhabitants of Meaux soon came to value 
spiritual truths above saintly relics and waxen images. 

But all this did not escape the iealous eyes of the Power of the 

1 11-11 1 .. 1,1 1 1 . Church 

church which based its wealth and power on the igno- 
rance of the people. Strong pressure from Rome was 
brought to bear on the King, and in spite of the efforts 
of Margaret, who was distinguished by her humanity 
towards the Protestants from first to last, the work of 
stamping out the heresy was begun. Brifonnet, in order 
to save his life, was forced to aid in the work of blotting 
out the reforms he had himself helped to institute. One 
by one the reformers were compelled to leave Meaux and 
take up their work more quietly in other places. But 



44 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Leclerc the 
First Martyr 



Bitter 
Persecution 



the poor people of the town remained behind, and the 
tenacity with which they clung to the '^new doctrines" 
showed how crying had been their need of a message of 
salvation. 

Jean Leclerc, a wool-carder, was the first upon whom 
the church vented its fury. Accused of irreverence, he 
was taken to Paris for trial and was condemned to be 
whipped through the streets of that city for three suc- 
cessive days, then to go through a like punishment at 
Meaux, after which he was to be branded on the forehead 
with a hot iron and banished from the kingdom. As the 
iron was being applied to his brow his aged mother cried 
out in her anguish, " Vive J6su Christ et ses euseignes !" 
(Live Jesus Christ and His witnesses !) Leclerc then made 
his way to Metz and there took up his trade again. 
Undaunted by his terrible experience he continued to 
communicate his knowledge of the Gospels to all with 
whom he came in contact. He was seized a second time 
and was condemned for heresy. His nose, arms and 
breast were torn by pincers, and his right hand cut off at 
the wrist. A hoop of red-hot iron was then pressed upon 
his head. So far, no words had escaped his lips, but as 
the metal slowly ate its way into his skull he began 
calmly to repeat the words of the Psalmist, "Their idols 
are silver and gold, the work of men's hands." At this, 
dreading the effect of his words upon the people, his 
persecutors quickly stifled his voice by throwing him into 
the fire. 

Other martyrs followed Leclerc into the flames in rapid 
succession. The faithful citizens of Meaux who held the 
reformed doctrines were liable at any time to the most 
bitter persecutions. If one of their number gave the 
priests the slightest pretext to act upon, he was pro- 
claimed a heretic and given to the proper authorities, 
from whose hands he received punishment of the most in- 
human kind. To aid in the work of extermination, spies 
were employed who were allowed to confiscate the prop- 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FRANCE 45 

erty of any one against wliom they could bring evidence 
of heresy. But these efforts of the church failed to achieve 
any lasting results, and tended to spread the work of ref- 
ormation by driving the reformers into various parts of 
France. Before a great while the faith which these early 
martyrs had sealed with their blood was deeply rooted in 
many sections of the country, making headway even in 
Paris. 

As the Huguenots increased in numbers the severity TheVaudois 
of the authorities grew more merciless and frightful. 
The most stringent laws were enacted and the sweet air 
of France reeked with the smoke from hundreds of holo- 
causts. Not content with burning a heretic here and 
there, those in power commenced the persecution of 
entire communities. The expedition against the Vaudois 
was one of the most dreadful of these wholesale butcheries. 

The Vaudois lived in the valley of the Durance, a few 
miles east of Avignon. They were known far and near 
for peaceable folk who strove to be honest in their deal- 1540 
ings with men and to lead just and upright lives. But in 
the minds of their bigoted enemies these facts did not 
outweigh their hatred, for the simple reason that the 
Vaudois were accustomed to read their Bibles and to 
worship God after the fashion of the earliest Christians. 
For a long time they had been the butt of various perse- 
cutions and had still remained steadfast in their faith, so 
it was finally decided to make them such a signal example 
as would frighten the very stoutest Huguenot heart. In 
1540 the Parliament of Provence decreed that fifteen men 
fi'om the village of Merindol who had failed to come to 
court to answer to a charge of heresy were to be burned 
alive. If not ''apprehended in person, they will be 
burned in effigy, their wives and children proscribed, 
and their possessions confiscated." Fm-ther than this, 
the decree ordered that all the houses in the village 
should be burned and that every trace of human habita- 
tion should be removed. 



46 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Brutality and 
Massacre 



Barbarous 
Cruelties 



Treachery 
and Murder 



Several months passed before the execution of the 
order, and the Vaudois came to believe that the storm 
had passed safely over their heads. But on the 16th of 
April an army was hastily gathered together and the 
carnage began. The villages of Cabrierett, Peypin, 
La Motte and Saint-Martin were the first to be burned. 
At the approach of the troops some of the inhabitants 
fled to Merindol, while others sought escape in the 
neighboui'ing woods. The women, children and old men 
were hidden away in a forest retreat in the hope that if 
discovered their evident weakness would prove their best 
means of safety. But this hope was futile. The hiding- 
place was discovered and a massacre ensued. Gray- 
haired men were put to death by the sword and the 
women were subjected to the brutal lust of the soldiery, 
or if with child their breasts were mutilated and they 
were left to die with their unborn offspring. 

Two days later the army arrived at Merindol, but the 
villagers had received warning of its approach and had 
taken to flight. A young man was the only person found 
within the limits of the town and upon him was vented 
the rage of his captors. As he was dying he cried out, 
" Lord God, these men are snatching from me a life full of 
wretchedness and misery, but Thou wilt give me eternal 
life through Jesus Thy Son. ' ' The soldiers then took up 
the work of destroying the town. Two hundred houses 
were burned and levelled to the ground, and the dwelling 
place of thrift and simple happiness was turned into a 
scene of utter desolation. Many of the fleeing Vaudois 
were overtaken and put to death or sent in chains to the 
galleys to serve with thieves and murderers. A party of 
some twenty-five of the fugitives was found hiding in a 
cavern, and with laughter and brutal jests a fire was 
kindled at the mouth of the cave to stifle the helpless 
victims like rats in a hole. 

A large number of the Vaudois had taken refuge in the 
town of Cabrieres, resolved to defend their wives and 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FEANCE 47 

childieu to their last drop of blood. The army halted 
before their weak intreuchments, hesitating to attack the 
desperate defenders. Word was sent to the Vaudois that 
by voluntarily surrendering themselves they would avoid 
needless bloodshed and their lives and property be spared. 
Beguiled by these promises they laid down their arms. 
They had no sooner done so than their persecutors fell 
upon the defenseless town like a pack of wolves. The 
greater part of the garrison was murdered in cold blood, 
while upwards of eight hundred women and children who 
had crowded into the sacred precincts of the chm-ch were 
there put to the sword. Among the defenders of the 
town was a band of forty heroic women, for whom the 
crowning act of cruelty was reserved. They were locked 
into a barn and a torch was then applied to the flimsy 
structure. One soldier, moved to pity by the shrieks of 
the frenzied victims, opened a way of escape, but his 
comrades who were enjoying the spectacle barred the 
exit with the sharp points of their spikes. Thus, in one 
way or another, over a thousand innocent persons were 
killed and three times that number driven forth as home- 
less and destitute wanderers. For weeks afterwards it 
was no strange thing to come across the body of some 
Vaudois lying by the roadside, overcome by hunger and 
thirst, or to hear the wailing of a child that mourned 
beside its mother who had fallen dead of exposure and 
fatigue. No charity could be shown these helpless peo- 
ple, for whoever gave them food, drink or shelter did so 
under penalty of hanging for it. 

Such was the fate that befell a people whose only fault 
was that they were Protestants ; a people concerning a High 
whom Governor de Bellamy reported to the King, 
"They differ from our communion in many respects, but 
they are a simple, irreproachable people, benevolent, 
temperate, humane, and of unshaken loyalty. Agricul- 
ture is their sole occupation ; they have no legal con- 
tentions, no lawsuits, or party strife. Hospitality is one 



48 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

of their principal virtues, and they have no beggars 
amongst them. They have neither locks nor bolts upon 
their doors. No one is tempted to steal, for his wants are 
freely supplied by asking." 

" They are heretics," said the King sternly. 

"I acknowledge, sire," said de Bellamy, ''that they 
rarely enter our churches; if they do, they pray with 
eyes fixed on the ground. They pay no homage to saints 
or images ; they do not use holy water, nor do they ac- 
knowledge the benefit to be derived from pilgrimages, or 
say mass, either for the living or the dead." 

" And it is for such men as these you ask clemency ! 
For your sake, they shall receive a pardon, if they re- 
nounce their heresies within three months, and seek a 
reconciliation with the mother chui-ch. Think you that 
I burn heretics in France, in order that they may be 
nourished in the Alps?" That was the spirit bred in 
the monarch by the Roman ecclesiastics who surrounded 
him and flattered him as the defender of the most holy 
faith. 

IV 

For thirty years the Protestant party had been grow- 
Growth Under iug strouger iu spite of the terrible persecutions it re- 
ceived, until in 1555 a Huguenot church was established 
in Paris, the very centre of French Roman Catholicism. 
The example of Paris was followed rapidly by other 
cities ; so rapidly, indeed, that six years later there were 
two thousand one hundred and fifty churches in France 
from whose pulpits the Word of God was preached. The 
growth of the Huguenot movement was phenomenal dur- 
ing these same six years, and its doctrines were embraced 
by all classes of the population alike. 
Lower The lowcr nobility, the provincial gentry, were chiefly 

Pr°o'testant Protcstaut. Bcuoit says, "The country churches were 
almost entirely composed of noblesse," and that "in 
some, one could count from eighty to a hundred families 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FRANCE 49 

of gentlemen." On the dissolution of a cliurch their 
houses often formed a centre for the scattered congre- 
gation. To ''seize the nobility" was the King's first 
order to the dragoons, showing his estimate of their in- 
fluence and power. 
Powerful nobles, like the great Prince of Cond6 and the conde and 

' ° Cohgny 

illustrious Admiral Coligny, espoused the cause of the 
Reformed Church and demanded liberty of worship for its 
adherents. Finally, in 1561, it became evident that the 
old state of affairs could not go on ; the Huguenot leaders 
brought great pressure to bear on the throne, and after 
many vexing delays the famous " Edict of January " was 
issued, giving to the Huguenots the right to worship un- 
molested by rabble or clergy. The schools and hospitals 
were thrown open to all, and the Huguenots were per- 
mitted to hold all offices of dignity and responsibility. 
It was a great victory for freedom of conscience, and had 
it been faithfully lived up to, France would have been 
spared a series of devastating civil wars and the loss of 
so many of her bravest and most industrious sons. 

But it was not the intention of the Catholic party to 
admit their fellow-countrymen to anything like an equal- Massacre of 
ity of worship with themselves, and so they proceeded at 
once to break faith with the Huguenots. In vain were 
all appeals to the law, so that out of self-defense the 
Huguenots were compelled to take up arms. They did 
so, however, only after the greatest provocations : as for 
example, when no punishment was meted out to the mur- 
derers of over a hundred Huguenots who were peacefully 
worshipping in their tabernacle at Vassy. This massacre 
of Vassy was a needless and cold-blooded atrocity, and its 
perpetrators were known ; but in spite of these facts and 
in defiance of the "Edict of January," the murderers 
were allowed to go unscathed. Such outrages and such source of civii 
breaches of faith made a resort to arms imperative and ^^^^ 
gave rise to a series of civil wars that turned France into 
a bloody battle-ground for over thirty years, and inau- 



50 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEKICA 

gurated a long train of persecutions, broken promises, 
and repressive acts of legislation, which culminated in 
the revocation of the ''Edict of Nantes," in 1685. It 
would be out of place in this brief sketch to go into the 
history of these wars and the troubles which followed 
them. A short account of the massacre of St. Barthol- 
omew's Day wiU be sufficient to show the treachery and 
ferocity with which the Huguenots were treated. 
mew'^Da"'"" ^^ ^^^ mouth of August, 1572, Henry of Navarre, the 
August 24, 1572 nominal head of the Huguenot party, together with Ad- 
miral Coligny and the Prince of Conde with eight hundred 
gentlemen, entered Paris to celebrate the nuptials of 
Henry and Margaret of Valois, sister of Charles IX. 
They came as the king's guests and were under the pro- 
tection of the "Edict of Saint Germain," in which the 
throne reiterated the promises of religious toleration made 
in the previous "Edict of January." The wedding was 
celebrated on the seventeenth with great magnificence, and 
the remainder of the week was devoted to various holiday 
sports and games. These festivities were, however, but 
a mask to cover the real intentions of the Eomau Cath- 
olics and to throw the Huguenot gentlemen off their 
guard. On the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day the plans 
for an appalling massacre had been perfected, and the 
unsuspecting victims were already marked out for 
slaughter. The gates of Paris were locked so that none 
might escape, every house in which a Protestant lodged 
was marked with a piece of chalk, and soldiers were in 
readiness to begin their bloody work as soon as the great 
bell in the tower of the "Palais de Jifttice" should ring 
forth the appointed signal. 

V 

Murder of The massacrc was begun by the murder of Coligny, who 

Colony was confiued to his house by a wound he had received a 

few days before. Early in the morning he was awakened 

by an uproar in the street, followed by a loud demand for 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FEANCE 



51 



admittance in the name of the king. His servant, La 
Bonne, opened the door and was immediately struck 
down with a dagger by Cosseins, a captain of the guard. 
A motley band of troopers then pressed into the house 
over the fallen body, and easily overcame the resistance 
which Coligny's five Swiss guards were able to offer, 
though they contested bravely every inch of the passage 
to the Admiral's room. Meanwhile, Coligny, under- 
standing what the clashing of arms signified, rose from 
his bed despite his wound, and prepared to meet his as- 
sassins like the honourable soldier that he was. To the 
little group of faithful friends and followers who were 
gathered about him he said, in a voice unmoved by fear, 
' ' For a long time I have kept myself in readiness for 
death. As for you, save yourselves, if you can. It were 
in vain for you to attempt to save my life. I commend 
my soul to the mercy of God." Obedient to his request, 
all his followers excepting Nicholas Muss fled to the roof 
and made their escape in the dai'kness. When the sol- 
diers broke into the room they found Coligny awaiting 
them with the greatest composure, quite undaunted in the 
face of certain death, * ' Aren' t you the Admiral ? ' ' cried 
one of the troopers. "Yes," replied Coligny. "I am 
he. But you are too young a soldier to speak thus to so 
old a captain, if for no other reason than respect for my 
age." With a curse the soldier struck him with his 
sword, and the old warrior was quickly put to death. 
His body was then thrown out of the window into the 
court below, where the Duke of Guise was waiting the 
news of his death. Taking out his handkerchief the Duke 
wiped the blood from Coligny's face and cried, "I recog- 
nize him, 'tis the Admiral!" After grinding his heel 
into the face of the fallen leader he shouted, ' ' Come, sol- 
diers, we have begun well ; let us go on to the others ! " 

The head was then cut off and carried to the Louvre for 
Charles and his mother to feast their eyes upon. After 
they had satisfied their hatred they ordered it embalmed 



A Noble 
Victim Un- 
daunted 



Ruffian 
Indignity 



A Martyr 
Statesman 



52 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



One of 
France's 
Greatest 
Names 



and sent to Pope Gregory at Rome as a token of the zeal 
with which religious freedom was being thwarted in 
France. The headless corpse was shamefully mutilated 
and with every show of ribald scorn it was dragged 
through the streets of Paris for the space of three days by 
a crowd of gamins. And so, in the fifty-sixth year of his 
life, passed away one of the greatest characters which 
France has ever produced. None of the ignominy which 
was heaped upon him could serve to cast the slightest 
stain on his loyalty, purity, and uprightness of life. As 
a soldier he showed indomitable pluck in the face of de- 
feats which would have disheartened many a courageous 
man ; he was a master of strategy without a superior in 
that age of generals, a leader who never failed to inspire 
the confidence of his troops ; with only the slenderest re- 
sources behind him his qualities of generalship enabled 
him to wage war for many years against a powerful enemy 
who vastly outnumbered him. As a statesman he sought 
to save France from the ruin into which her dissolute 
sovereign was leading her, and was justly regarded as 
wise and far-sighted. But it is as a Christian gentleman 
that Gaspard de Coligny deserves most to be remembered. 
In that dissolute age he set a shining example to the other 
great nobles of his rank. Every act of his life felt the 
influence of his manly and straightforward piety. 
Whether at home, in his castle of Ch4tillon-sur-Loing, or 
in the rude camps of the field, he sought to emulate the 
example of his Master. It was his constant glory and de- 
light to be a Christian. 



Wholesale 
Massacre 
Without 
Mercy 



VI 

Following the death of Coligny came the wholesale 
massacre of the Protestants. For three days and nights 
the carnage went on. Nothing availed to save the 
wretched victims : neither youth, age, nor sex prevented 
the swords of the Roman Catholic bigots from striking 
home. Venerable men were struck down in their feeble- 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FRANCE 53 

ness, babes were torn from their mother's breasts and 
spitted on the ends of pikes, women were treated to 
every bestial indignity, so that the blow which ended 
their suffering seemed like an act of mercy. So sudden 
was the attack and so scattered were the Huguenots that 
resistance was out of the question except in a rare in- 
stance or two where some doughty gentleman found time 
to buckle on his breastplate and grasp his sword. The 
Lieutenant de la Mareschaussee was one of these. With 
the aid of a solitary companion he defended his house 
against the onslaughts of the butchers for the whole of 
that day. Spurred on by the thought of the fate await- 
ing his wife and invalid daughter he fought like a mad- 
man until sheer exhaustion enabled his enemies to 
despatch him. To vent their spite the soldiers dragged 
his sick daughter naked through the streets until she 
died of their maltreatment. 

Altogether, probably between five and six thousand 
persons were slain within the walls of Paris, though The Number 

,, .,. , ,, , , . , . ' ^ of the Victims 

some authorities place the number as high as eight or ten 

thousand. Most of these bodies were dumped into the 

Seine, so that the river fairly flowed with blood for days 

afterwards. So numerous were the corpses floating in 

the stream that the lagging current was unable to carry 

them all away, and for miles below the city the shores 

were covered with putrefying remains. It is only fair to 

France to say that the blame for these atrocities of 

St. Bartholomew's Day falls heaviest on the Church of 

Eome, which for years had taught the doctrine that it ^^ 

was no sin to kill those who held other forms of belief ;"', 

which had gone even further and stated that to do so was 

an act of signal pietv. Indeed, when the news of the R?me's Re- 

massacre reached Eome it was received with the greatest 

rejoicing, a jubilee was celebrated, and for three nights 

the city was brilliantly illuminated. King Charles who, 

under his mother's instigation, ordered the massacre that 



54 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Henry of 
Navarre 



Edict of 
Nantes 



Louis XIV 



Revocation of 
the Edict 



shocked the world, died at twenty-five, the prey of terror 
and mental agony. 

VII 

When Henry of Navarre was made king of France he 
found it politically necessary to abjure his Huguenot faith 
and turn Catholic. But he never forgot his old allegiance 
to the Eeformed religion, and strove in every way to 
give his former comrades their just rights as citizens of 
France. On the thirteenth of April, 1598, he set his 
name to '' a perpetual and irrevocable edict," known as 
the Edict of Nantes, which granted liberty of conscience 
to all Frenchmen. It restored to the Huguenots their 
full civil rights and gave them the freedom to worship 
God unmolested by priests or bigots. It was one of the 
most glorious steps towards human liberty that has ever 
been taken, and had its solemn promises been adhered to 
by Henry's royal successors, France would have been 
spared some of the blackest and most unfortunate pas- 
sages in her history. 

But after the death of Henry IV, the beneficent 
provisions of the edict were one by one rendered in- 
operative, and the old round of petty and cruel persecu- 
tions was resumed. We must pass over these unhappy 
years until we come to the crowning act of despotism 
which marked the career of Eoman Catholic intolerance, 
the Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes, In 1685 Louis 
XIV utterly destroyed the few remaining liberties of his 
Protestant subjects by breaking the solemn promises 
made to them by Henry IV. According to the terms of 
the Eevocation all Huguenot churches were to be torn 
down, the gathering of Protestants for the purposes of 
worship was forbidden, even religious services in the 
home were made punishable offenses. Protestant schools 
were abolished, all children were to be brought up in 
the Eoman Catholic faith and were to be baptized by the 
parish priest, etc. Most tyrannical of all the provisions, 
however, was that which forbade any Huguenot from 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FEANCE 55 

leaving the kingdom under penalty of serving a life sen- 
tence in the galleys. Thus by a single stroke of the pen, 
Louis made life for the Protestants unbearable in France, 
and at the same time made it a crime for them to seek an 
asylum in other lands. 

The condition of the Huguenots now became truly Dragooning 
pitiable, for not content with robbing them of all their 
liberties the king desired their wholesale conversion. 
In the endeavour to accomplish this the most heartless 
methods were resorted to, chief among them being the 
fiendish process called "dragooning." A day was ap- 
pointed for the conversion of a certain district, and the 
dragoons, who were carefully selected from among the 
most rufi&anly swash bucklers in the French army, made 
their appearance accordingly and took possession of 
the Protestants' houses. Their orders were to make as 
much trouble as possible, and they obeyed them with 
barbarous exactness ; converting a quiet home into a 
bedlam and subjecting the family to the grossest insults 
and most outrageous tortures. Woe to the unhappy 
wretch upon whom the troopers were quartered. They 
stabled their horses in his parlour, smashed his furniture 
at will, destroyed whatever they could not eat or drink, 
kept his family awake at night by their drunken uproar 
or by prodding them with their swords, exposed his wife 
and daughters to foul language and abuse, and taught his 
sons the vices of the soldiery. 

Eather than subject his loved ones to such treatment Recanting to 
many a brave man, who would cheerfully have suffered Family"^ * 
the rack or the wheel for the sake of his faith, forced 
himself to become an unwilling convert to the "true 
religion." Those who refused to submit after the dra- 
goons had been in their homes a few days were beaten 
without mercy, or starved, or half- roasted over a fire ; 
mothers were bound securely and forced to see their 
young babes perish at their feet ; some were hung in the 
chimneys and piles of wet straw burned under them until 



56 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEI9A 



Fleeing Into 
Exile 



France Lost 
her Skilled 
Artisans and 
Best Blood 



they were nearly suffocated ; others were held under water 
till life was almost extinct. These, and other crimes too 
horrible for mention here, were all committed under the 
mask of a religion which, professing to teach the love of 
God, inspired the hearts of its followers with a hatred of 
their fellow man. 

vni 

From this condition of affairs large numbers of the 
Huguenots sought relief by fleeing over the borders of 
France into Switzerland, Germany, Holland and England, 
where they were warmly welcomed, both on account of 
the pity felt for their sufferings, and because they repre- 
sented the most sober, industrious and intelligent class 
of the French people. It is probable that at least four 
hundred thousand persons emigrated within a short time 
after the Eevocation, and some historians put the figures 
as high as eight hundred thousand. Their going struck 
a sore blow to France, and was the most potent cause of 
her loss of commercial supremacy. For the majority 
of those who escaped were noblemen and gentry, wealthy 
merchants and manufacturers, bankers, or skilled arti- 
sans ; and while most of them were forced to leave their 
wealth behind them they carried away what was of 
far more importance — the knowledge of trades such as 
weaving fine cloths, making silks and laces, hats, etc., 
which had up to that time been confined to France. The 
growth of England as a great manufacturing nation was 
due in no mean degree to the efforts and the skill of the 
refugees whom she received so hospitably. But this emi- 
gration was not accomplished without the greatest hard- 
ships. The guards along the frontiers were increased and 
every effort made by the government to prevent the out- 
flow. Those who were apprehended were certain to be 
consigned to the galleys, but this did not prevent the 
bolder spirits from making an endeavour to reach free- 
dom. The greatest variety of strategies was resorted to : 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FRANCE 57 

some shipped themselves to England inside empty wine 
casks ; noble ladies disguised themselves as peasants and 
drove herds of cattle across the Dutch frontiers ; others 
ventured out to sea in open boats to board some friendly 
ship. 

One aristocratic lady secured a passport from a Swiss 
servant and for weeks rubbed her face with nettles to pro- 
duce the blotched appearance called for in the description. 

Roman Catholics in later times have tried in every way Efiforts to 
possible to minimize the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, stain 
to deny that it was a Church measure, and to charge it 
upon the Protestants themselves as breakers of the peace. 
Roman Catholic historians have played fast and loose 
with the facts of history regarding the entire period of 
persecution. But the facts remain and cannot be wiped ^ 
out or evaded. 

There is no question that when the Massacre of St. Bar- 
tholomew's day was announced to the world, the Romish 
clergy of France rejoiced ; the King was hailed as the 
desti'oyer of heresy ; and the Pope at Rome, as head of 
the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world, ap- 
proved the infamous deed ; going so far as by a special 
medal, representing the slaughter of the Huguenots, to 
make it a notable event in the history of the church. 
The Parliament of Paris followed his example, and on 
their medal engraved the words, "Piety aroused Jus- 
tice." But within a hundred and fifty years, the great 
Roman Catholic preacher, Massillon, when pronouncing 
the eulogy of Louis XIV, and praising him for the Revo- 
cation of the Edict of Nantes — an act not less infamous 
than the massacre, thus speaks of the latter event : 
"Even by the recollection and injustice of that bloody 
day, which ought to be effaced from our annals, which Biood of 
piety and humanity will always disown, which in the sled o?the^ 
effort to crush heresy, under one of our late kings, gave ^"^"^ church 
to it new fire and fury, and fumed, if I may venture to 
say it, from its blood the seed of new disciples." Thus 



58 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Palissy the 
Potter a 
Protestant 



Born 1510 



this French Roman Catholic turned away in horror from 
the inhumanity of that earlier day, which he would have 
the world forget if he could. 

IX 



One of the greatest craftsmen France ever produced was 
Bernard Palissy the potter. It was his, too, to suffer for 
his Protestant faith and at last to give his life for it. He 
was as noble in character as he was skilled in his art. 
There was much of pathos and disappointment in his life, 
yet he lived it grandly, and sets an inspiring example of 
persistence and piety. Think of pursuing an ideal of 
beauty for a quarter of a century — working under every 
conceivable hardship and difficulty, yet never losing faith 
in ultimate success. That was the man who discovered a 
secret of enamelling that is the admiration of the world. 
Born in 1510, in the south of France, where the reforma- 
tion most developed, he was brought up to his father's 
trade — a worker in glass. His parents were too poor to 
give him any schooling. "I had no other books," said 
he in after years, "than heaven and earth, which are 
open to all." He learned glass-painting, drawing, and 
to read and write, by his own exertions. He was over 
thirty, married and with a family to support, when the 
Self-educated sight of an clcgaut cup, of Italian manufacture, first set 
him to thinking about the new art of enamelling. The 
sight of a cup changed his whole existence. He 
resolved to discover the enamel of which it was glazed, 
and persisted for mouths and years, spoiling furnaces and 
pots and drugs and his wife's temper, as she could not be 
expected to sympathize with his enthusiasm and extrava- 
gance when the children had to go hungry. On he 
worked, often in direst poverty, only to meet disappoint- 
ment. Once, in a critical experiment, he burned up all 
the furniture to feed his furnace — and still failed. His 
wife and neighbours said he was mad, but he kept on. 
''Hope continued to inspire me," he says, "and I held 



Persistence in 
face of 
Obstacles 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FRANCE 59 

on manfully. Worst of all the sufferings I had to endure 
were the mockeries of my own household. For years my 
furnaces were without covering, and I have been for nights 
at the mercy of the wind and rain. My house proved no 
refuge for me, I found in my chamber a second persecu- 
tion worse than the first." Still he went on, and it was success at 

Last 

sixteen years before he reached success and would call 
himself potter. Ever after till death he proceeded 
from one improvement to another, aiming at perfec- 
tion. 

Fame and means were now his, but another suffering 
he had to endure. He was bitterly persecuted because he 
was a Protestant. As he was fearless of speech, Palissy 
was pronounced a dangerous heretic by the priests ; his Persecuted as 
workshop was smashed by the rabble, and he was even 
condemned to be burned. From this fate he was saved 
by a powerful noble — not because the nobleman cared for 
the potter or his religion, but because no other artist 
living was able to execute the enamelled pavement which 
the nobleman had ordered for his magnificent chateau 
then in course of erection near Paris. Thus Palissy' s 
art, which cost him so much, saved his life literally. The saved by his 
King also was greatly interested in his work. 

The persecutors could not let him alone. When an old 
man of seventy-eight, owing to his open warfare against 
astrology, witchcraft and other impostures, he was again 
arrested as a heretic, and imprisoned in the Bastille. He 
was threatened with death unless he recanted, but proved 
as persistent in holding to his religion as he was in hunt- The King's 
ing out the secret of the enamel. King Henry IV went 
to see him in prison, to use his personal influence to 
induce the old artist to recant. 

" My good man," said the King, " you have now served 
my mother and myself for forty-five years. We have put 
up with your adhering to your religion amidst fires and 
massacres : now I am so pressed by the Guise party that I 
am constrained to leave you in the hands of your ene- 



Visit 



60 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



A Noble 
Reply 



A Martyr to 
his Faith 



mies, and to-morrow you will be burned unless you be- 
come converted." 

"Sire," answered the unconquerable old man, "lam 
ready to give my life for the glory of God. You have 
said many times that you have pity on me ; and now I 
have pity on you, who have pronounced the words, ' I 
am constrained.' It is not spoken like the King; it is 
what you, and those who constrain you, can never 'effect 
upon me — for I know how to die. ' ' 

The King, who admired the brave man and th3 great 
artist, did not permit Palissy to be burned, but did leave 
him in prison, where he died — a real martyr to his faith 
— less than a year later. This was the kind of character 
and of ability that France lost. There was nothing left 
to replace such genuine religion, nothing out of which to 
create such type of citizens, who are the bulwark of the 
state as they are its glory. Palissy the potter deserves 
high place on the roll of honour of the Huguenot 
martyrs. 



An Enemy's 
Praise 



Louis XIV himself bore testimony to the high char- 
acter of his Protestant subjects, whom he declared, in 
1666 : " Being no less faithful than the rest of my people, 
it behooves me to treat with no less favour and consider- 
ation." But this was the very year in which the "re- 
lapsed heretics" were placed entirely at the mercy of the 
Eoman Catholics, and subjected to all kinds of annoy- 
ances and persecutions. As one wrote, "The members 
of the reformed religion are so cruelly persecuted through 
the whole kingdom that, if the work go on, it is to be 
feared that nothing less than a great massacre must be 
looked for." Public worship was proscribed and even 
the singing of psalms prohibited on the highways or in 
private houses. The Protestants were forbidden to bury 
their dead in open day. 

Perhaps nothing could show the condition and spirit of 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FRANCE 61 

the Huguenots in France in 1668 better than this trans- invincible 
lation of a letter written by one of their number : ^^" 

These things make us justly apprehensive that in the end they will 
break out in acts of open violence ; there being nothing which they are 
not in case to undertake for accomplishing of our ruine. And unless 
we be willfully blind, we cannot but see that they design to drive us 
into some insurrection. (But that we never shall do, preferring rather 
to suffer the greatest extremity and our blood to be shed, than in the 
least to violate the respect which we owe to our prince.) And if they 
cannot overcome our patience (as assuredly they never shall), then 
their resolution is, By continual importunity to prevail with his 
Majesty to drive us out of the kingdom. But we hope that the King 
is so good and just that he will never gratifie them in such a thing, 
without a parallel. And if ive should be called to such a trial, we hope 
God will give us such strength and courage that we may serve Him where- 
ever His providence shall call us. And this in effect is the general reso- 
lution of all the Protestants in the kingdom. 

That is the kind of Christian spirit and character that, 
banished from France, was to enrich every European 
country, and our own America. "Patient as a Hugue- 
not" became a proverb, because the ministers were re- 
solved to suffer for righteousness' sake rather than again 
make appeal to arms. 

" One might be tempted to suppose," says Poole, "that 
not the least reason for the energy of the clergy in opposi- 
tion to the Huguenots was suggested by jealousy of the 
contrast between their own scandalous neglect and the 
careful order and nice discipline of the Protestants." As 
Gustave Masson, the historian, says: " The Vitality of 
Protestantism in France, despite the severest persecutions 
that can be imagined, is a circumstance which, while it can- 
not be denied, fills us with hope for the future. ' ' The hope 
of Protestant France lies in the noble words which Theodore 
de Beze spoke to the King of Navarre : "Sire, it is the 
part of the Church of God to endure blows, and not to 
deal them : but your Majesty will please to remember 
that it is an anvil which has already worn out many a 
hammer." 



62 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Marot's 
Psalms 



Widespread 
Influence 



A Rallying 
Cry 



XI 

Oue of the most powerful influences of the Reformation 
in France, as in Switzerland, was Clement Marot's Psalms. 
The young Clement, whose father was a poet, was at- 
tached to the family of the Duke D' Alengon about 1520. 
He was led to translate some of the Psalms into French 
verse. Having put them into lively ballad measure, he 
printed about twenty translations, dedicating them to the 
king. The sweetness of the poetry won a great success 
at the court, the king was pleased with the dedication, 
and the demand for copies was large. The ecclesiastical 
authorities censured the book, but the king and court 
carried the day, and Marot's hymns began to be sung 
everywhere. At all times and in all places the Psalms 
might be heard sung to lively ballad tunes. They took 
for a time the place of national songs. Marot paraphrased 
thirty more of the Psalms, and the fifty were printed in 
Geneva in 1543 with a preface by Calvin, and had a wide 
circulation. No one then realized what part these Psalms 
were to play later, when the persecutions came. In the 
Netherlands they were sung in the field meetings of the 
Reformed, and the effect on the crowds was electric and 
resistless. The different Psalms were fitted to tunes ac- 
cording to the popular taste, and were sometimes accom- 
panied by musical instruments. Calvin got two excel- 
lent musicians to set the whole number of Psalms to mu- 
sic, and words and music were printed together. That 
was the original church hymn book, and oddly enough 
for a time Roman Catholics as well as Protestants carried 
and used the book. The Psalms were sung in private and 
in company, and the effect was marked. Fearing that 
the court would become too religious, the evil-disposed 
tried to counteract their influence by translations of Latin 
odes ; but the influence of the Marot Psalms long contin- 
ued even in those fashionable circles. 

As for the Protestants, they found their rallying cry in 
these hymns. The adoption of them as a part of public 



THE HUGUENOTS IN FEANCE 



63 



worship caused their rejection by the Eomanists. On 
the field of battle, at the funeral pyre of the martyr, in 
the prisons, all through the terrible period of religious 
persecution and bloodshed, the Psalms of Marot could be 
heard, and were the source of inspiration and courage. 
It is well said that the influence of Marot on the language 
and poetry of France has been enduring, and the good 
accomplished by introducing the singing of David's 
Psalms into the Eeformed congregations and families can- 
not be estimated. As Luther's Hymn, which is a trans- 
lation of a Psalm, was the Protestant battle hymn of 
Germany, so the Marot Psalms led the French forward 
in their long struggle for religious liberty and human 
rights. 




'— ttaaacre of Vassi 



CHAPTER III 
THE FRENCH EXILES IN EUROPE 



W 



HAT France lost and what the other countries 
of Europe gained at her expense by giving 
refuge to the Huguenot exiles is shown in de- 
Europejs Gain tail by Wciss in his History of the French Protestant Ref- 
France'8 Folly ugees, and by Poole, an English writer, in his Huguenots 
of the Dispersion, a valuable essay. England was doubt- 
less the largest gainer in the arts and manufactures, yet 
nearly all the countries of Northern Europe received 
valuable accessions in artisans and agriculturists, some 
reaching even into Russia. Skilled trades were thus car- 
ried into sections where they had previously been un- 
known. 
supVr?o*rUy in ^^ almost Bvcry branch of industry the French Prot- 
dustr "* ^"' estants greatly surpassed the Roman Catholics. Why, is 
an interesting question for discussion. Poole attributes 
it to the free spirit, fostered in the consistories and syn- 
ods of the Protestants and in their schools of learning, 
which found an apt expression in the zest and success 
with which they devoted themselves to the improvement 
of manufacture and the extension of commerce. They 
were mentally quickened by a religion which exercised 
thought and reason, and their training in the administra- 
tion of the church fitted them for business transactions. 
Whatever the reason, the fact is indisputable as to the 
immense vigour with which the Huguenots applied 
themselves to trade, and the excellence which, thanks to 
their tone of mind and the superior length of their work- 
ing year, they attained in it. For holidays, for example, 
the Huguenots allowed only the Sundays and the two re- 

64 



THE FEENCH EXILES IN EUROPE 



65 



Arts and 
Crafts 



ligious festivals of Christmas and Easter, while the Eoinan 
Catholics had double the number in order to celebrate the 
saints' days. Thus the Huguenots worked on 310 days 
in the year, the Roman Catholics only on 260, which 
made a decided difference, aside from the superior qual- 
ity and speed of the Protestant workmen. 

Weaving was one of the principal industries of France, 
with over 44,000 persons engaged in it in 1669; and the 
Protestants had a practical monopoly. Cloth in Cham- 
pagne and the southeast, serges and light stuffs in Langue- 
doc, the linens of ^Normandy and Brittany, the silks and 
velvets of Tours and Lyons, glass in Ormandy, paper in 
Auvergne and Angoumois, the tan-yards of the Touraine, 
the furnaces of iron, steel and tin in the Sedanais — these 
were Protestant industries whose products made France 
known in every market. And it was this splendid indus- 
trial population which the infatuated Louis, at the be- 
hest of his Roman Catholic advisers, scourged from his 
kingdom. 

Colbert, the great French minister of finance, and the 
only French statesman who knew the value of trades, 
recognized the worth of the Huguenots. ' ' This great 
man," says Angillon, ''was too able an administrator 
to fail of being tolerant. He had learned that civil and 
religious liberty was the principle of work, of industry, 
and of the wealth of the nations. ' ' Thus he employed 
the German Protestant Herward, his comptroller-general 
of finance, and kept the Huguenots in the financial de- 
partment as long as his influence prevailed at court. It 
was not until the profligate king had wearied of his faith- 
fulness and wise counsels that the fierce persecutions began, 
and not until after his death that the Edict was revoked 
and commerce lost to the France he devotedly loved and 
served. 

II 

Holland at first received the intellectual and com- Holland 
mercial flower of the French Protestants. Haarlem is 



A Valuable 
Factor 



66 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



>Voonen 
Manufactures 



A French 
Section 



A Dutch 
Estimate 1750 



an illustration. The exiles reached there, as the munici- 
pal records state, "in a sorely destitute state, lacking 
the means of life, and in no wise able to sustain their 
families." But not long did they require town help or 
support. Their woollen manufacture increased till the 
town became too small for them, and they built the 
Nieuwe Stad (new city). Besides cloth, druggets, and 
such woollen stuffs, they introduced into Haarlem a 
variety of silk product, velvet, plush, and the like, 
which, though coarser than the original manufactures 
at Lyons, Tours and Paris, were long in gi-eat demand 
abroad because cheaper. Haarlem was soon outstripped 
in the woollen trade by Leyden, where the French made 
the finest cloth, the best serges to be found in the country. 
The comfort of these tluifty and expert immigrants was 
such that even Eoman Catholic soldiers would desert to 
settle there. 

But Amsterdam was the centre, and a whole quarter 
of the city was settled by the Protestant workmen of 
Pierre Baill6, the richest manufacturer of his district in 
France. Before this, Amsterdam had been busied al- 
most exclusively with maritime commerce. Now, in- 
dustries were rising everywhere in silk and wool and 
linen ; a new part of the city, as at Haarlem, was built 
for the workers, and almost entirely occupied by hat 
manufactories. Paper mills were in plenty also, and the 
book trade was largely stimulated. 

These cases are typical of the impulse given by the 
French refugees to trade. What was true of Holland 
and its cities was true also of England and Ireland, of 
Germany and Switzerland, of Sweden and Austria, and 
not least of America, where the French transplanted 
their commercial, industrial, agricultui-al and religious 
characteristics in full measure. 

Here is what a writer in the Nederlandsclie Spectator 
of 1750, who does not quite like the dash and swing and 
success of the newcomers, in contrast to the Dutch 



THE FEENCH EXILES IN EUEOPE 67 

stolidity, says of the Huguenot immigratiou : "This 
peoi^le, oppressed and hardly handled, came over to us 
in so great swarms, that it seemed about to equal the 
number of the inhabitants, and scarcely to be provided 
with places to live in. Not alone were they received 
cheerfully as brothers and fellows in faith ; but people 
of every diverse sect lavished abounding gifts upon 
them : and everywhere, as guests, free from the charge 
of scot or lot, they were furnished and favoured with 
rare immunities. The engaging joyousness, which no 
tyranny could quench, the courteous grace which could 
gain an entrance by its modest tact everywhere, soon 
made so much impression here on the more and better 
part of the people, and so used its mind to their manners, 
that it came to be reckoned an honoui' the most to re- 
semble the foreigners." 

This is a high tribute indeed, and something of the 
same result was produced in America by those gracious 
qualities and graceful manners which found as much 
contrast in the New Englanders as in the Hollanders, who 
come of the same sturdy and conquering though less 
polished stock. 

Ill 

In Great Britain the French immigrants made lasting in Great 
impress, and gave trade and manufacture an impulse 
and breadth never afterwards lost. The lace makers 
spread their manufactures over several countries, and 
made this industry famous and remunerative. Furriers 
and beaver hat makers in large numbers settled in 
Wandsworth ; and for forty years, until a theft restored 
the art, France was compelled to import all the best 
goods of this kind, made by Frenchmen, from England. 
It is said that even the cardinals of the Holy College had 
to buy their hats in English Wandsworth ; which ought 
to have been sufficiently humiliating to the high officials 
of the Church which drove the industry forth from 
France. 



Britain 



68 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

London To Londoii the refugees came by thousands, ' ' far the 

greater numbers in a state of persecution, empty and 
naked, to depend on the hospitality and charity of this 
good-natured kingdom." But never for long were they 

1687 dependent. Workshops and churches sprang up to- 
gether. In a single year the official account of the relief 
committee reported that 13,500 refugees had been helped 
in London ; while two French churches were organized 
in Spitaltields and one by the Strand. Commerce and 
chui'ch went together where the Huguenots were. 
Among those thousands aided there were 143 ministers 
and 283 families of quality. Their children were sent to 
the best trades or into his Majesty's troops — the latter to 

1688 the number of 150. In the next year the French minis- 
ters in and about London were incorporated, with power 
to purchase lands and build houses, and three new 
churches were provided for. The peopling of the waste 
Spitaltields was due to the French, and in a generation 
nine chui'ches had arisen there, and the workmen were so 
many and so busy that the silk manufacture of London 
was multiplied twentyfold. 

South Coast French colonists lined the south coast, where the exiles 

gathered around such leaders as the Marquess de Euvigny, 
their aged chief who long guarded them at the French 
court and was now their sponsor in England ; whose sons, 
by the way, rendered great service to England in war. 
These coast refugees devoted themselves chiefly to ship- 

shippingand piug aud commcrce. At Exeter the tapestry weavers, 
however, established themselves, and in other southern 
towns trades were created, among them the fine linens 
and sail cloth. In nearly all the industrial centres the 
French were to be found, engaged in weaving, in print- 
ing calicoes in their unrivalled style, in making glass aud 
paper ; and everywhere setting an example of skill, thrift 
and cheerfulness. The paper mills extended from Eng- 
land into Scotland, the first being started at Glasgow. 
Edinburgh received a number of cambric makers, and 



THE FRENCH EXILES IN EUROPE 69 

the burghers built them a large house on the common, 
long known as little Picardya. In 1693 the city was Scotland 
charged to the amount of two thousand marks for the 
support of the manufactory. Others worked in silk, and 
planted mulberry -gardens on the hill slopes. Helped by 
the public alms at first, these Picard exiles fared pros- 
perously, and maintained their native speech and man- 
ners, living in a house, itself of French fashion, until the 
middle of the eighteenth century. 

The gentry and artisans formed the bulk of the French 
immigrants to England. The agricultural classes pre- 
ferred Germany, Holland and Sweden, which were less 
thickly peoijled. It was the craftsman, carrying his 
means of support in his hands or in his brain, that 
enriched Engkiud and did much to make the little island 
the workshop as well as the counting-house of the world. 
A strong contrast these French craftsmen were to the 
English workmen, who belonged in general to a rougher 
and less skilled type ; who needed the greater refinement 
and joyousness of the newcomers as much as the Puritans 
did in New England ; and who on the whole received the 
foreigners quite as hospitably as could be expected. 

lY 

Most heartily were the persecuted fugitives welcomed Professional 
in the various countries to which they fled. At Dord- ^"•■"=^'"«"t 
recht, in Holland, the bm'ghers ' ' received them as kins- 
folk into their houses, cared for them as for their children, 
and put them in the way of earning honourably their 
bread," while the magistrates loaded them with privileges 
and pensions. This was characteristic of the countries 
generally. The French Protestant ministers and men of 
letters, many of them eminent for learning, enriched 
Holland by their presence. It was the artisan and agri- 
cultural class that chiefly pushed on further. Colonies 
escaped through the German border to the north, and the 
immigration to Hamburg embarrassed that great city by 



70 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Denmark 
Gains a Com- 
mander-in- 
Chief 



Russia Gives 
Free Entry 



its numbers. Hamburg got in return, liowever, the linen 
manufacturing industry which made it famous and greatly 
increased its riches. 

Sweden 1681 King Christian of Sweden was among the first to offer 

asylum to banished families, promising to grant them 
lands and build them churches with full religious freedom. 
One of the Huguenot ministers who went to Copenhagen 
was Phillippe Menard, afterwards French chaplain to 
William III. 

The Eefuge in Denmark included a few military offi- 
cers ; one of whom was Frederic Charles de la Eoche- 
foucault, ancestor of the Irish earls of Lifford. This 
Huguenot became grand marshal and commander-in-chief 
of the Danish forces. But the bulk of the French settlers 
were farmers, cultivating especially potatoes, the tobacco 
plant, which they introduced, and wheat, which they 
improved. 

The small settlement in Eussia was singular in that the 
Czar granted free entry and exit to any emigrants of the 
evangelical faith who might choose to come, and also 
religious liberty and chance for government service. It 
is said that when Peter the Great built St. Petersburg he 
seemed to take pleasure in outraging the prejudice of the 
Orthodox Greek Church by giving all encouragement to 
Lutherans and Calvinists. The imported population gave 
a new tone to the rising capital, different in manners and 
civilization from the rest of Eussia. Thus a French society 
grew up there, with a chiu-ch built in 1723, frequented by 
the Swiss and English as well as by the French residents. 

In Germany In the German states the Huguenots' influence was 

marked. There the French proved that gracious and 
civilizing power which was conspicuous subsequently in 
the society at Berlin. At Celle and Hanover French was 
i^oken as purely as in Paris, and a refinement altogether 
new sprang up in the German principalities. French 
politeness softened Saxon brusqueness and made life much 
more enjoyable. 



THE FEENCH EXILES IN EUROPE 71 

The population of Switzerland was naturally greatly Switzerland 
enlarged by the number of refugees who there found 
asylum. Geneva benefited by the coming of workers in 
silk and wool, print manufacturers, goldsmiths and watch- 
makers. A greater advantage even resulted from the 
gathering there and at Lausanne of many families of 
rank, the artists and men of science, who raised the 
social culture. It should be noted that wherever they 
went the Huguenots conferred not only commercial bene- / 
fits and carried their religion, but they elevated the ' 
culture. To their refining influence the refugees added 
a material benefit throughout Switzerland. They im- 
proved the vinegrowing and husbandly, and added the 
culture of orchards and kitchen gardens. This was the 
same thing they did in the New World ; besides opening 
shops, starting manufactures as they were needed, and 
generally taking the initiative in improvements. 

Germany owes not a little of its present fame as a "Made in 

* Germany by 

manufacturing country to the French immigrants who the French 
were hospitably taken in when they were homeless. 
"Made in Germany" is stamped on many manufactures 
which, if the history was traced back, would show a 
Huguenot hand at the beginning. Jewelry, woollen 
goods, flannels, carpets and cloths, hats and gloves, all 
sorts of ornamental wares, for which Germany is known 
were introduced by the French artisans. There were 
agricultural as well as industrial settlements, and French 
villages dotted many a German valley. There were also 
many gentle families, which gradually became absorbed 
in the German population. The one thing that made 
the French unpojiular was their lively, light-hearted be- 
haviour, which seemed frivolous to the staid German, 
who ajjpreciated neither their talkativeness in church, 
their strange dress with short cloaks, nor their snuff-boxes. 

This did not apply so much to Berlin, which got the Berlin 
most out of the French both in manufactures and man- 
ners. Hither flocked not only the best artisans, as to 



72 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

Strong French England, but especially the soldiers and nobles and gentry, 

Colony 

until it was no wonder that Berlin was in danger of be- 
coming more French than German, though the French 
element was not of the Parisian type. The trade and 
craft of the French colony were remarkable. The new- 
comers introduced numerous arts as yet unknown to the 
Brandenburgers when the Great Elector Frederick Will- 
iam welcomed the French to his dominions. Not an 
industry but claimed its place among the labours of the 
French, while most were their special or exclusive pos- 
session. As in England, paper and glass were before 
this only made in the commonest and coarsest kinds ; 
now paper of the finest was made in Berlin, while the 
looking-glasses were said to excel those of Venice. Then 
there was a large mercantile element which rapidly 
gained supremacy, so that the Germans came to learn 
from them how to do business. In mining and metal 
founding the French opened to Germany an unworked 
field. The copper hitherto sent by Sweden to France 
was now turned into French workshops in Germany, and 
the iron trade helped Brandenburg on its way into the 
rank of kingdoms and head of an empire. She could 
not make her own arms. 
irT Arm *^^"*''^ The German army owed much to the French gentry, 
who multiplied many times their real efficiency, it was 
declared, by their moral sway. Two companies of 
Grands Mousquetaires were formed of officers only, 
under French Marshal Schomberg and his son. Whole 
regiments were formed or recruited from the body of the 
refugees, who thus as on the farm and in the factory 
richly repaid the land that gave them liberty and a home. 
In the social order the refugees were given the same 
place they had in France, and it was the aim of the 
German monarch to impress upon the '^ unpolished 
surface of the manner of his court something of the 
refinement and grace of France." There were two 
French churches and nine ministers in Berlin. In 



THE FRENCH EXILES IN EUROPE 73 

education the French led the way to higher medical church and 

Kducation 

training, and in scientific knowledge. The French Col- 
lege of Berlin was a notable institution. Poole goes so 
far as to assert that the society of Berlin was the creation 
of the exile, and it was the refugees who gave it that 
mobile course of thought, that finer culture, that tact 
in matters of art and that instinct of conversation which 
had before been the unique possession of France. They 
diffused their own spirit, quick, fine, lucid ; the spirit 
of French vivacity and precision. And thus they ex- 
erted, whether in Germany or Switzerland or England, fo^a/'Q^fi"' 
that influence peculiar to France, upon the society into 
the midst of which they were thrown. 

Having thus seen something of the exiles in European 
countries, we shall be prepared to understand them and 
their influence in our own land, where we may be sure 
they would be not less influential along the same lines, , 
social, commercial and religious. We can somewhat 
estimate also the loss to France of such an element ; in 
reality its great middle class, the reliable and thoughtful 
and inventive class, combining the artisan, agricultural 
and professional, which gives to a nation its best life and 
its material and moral soundness and strength. 




I 



CHAPTEE IV 
SUFFEEING FOE THE FAITH 



Pe?se"cutiion^ T T is commonly thought that the history of the 
Huguenots in France ends with the Eevocation of 
the Edict of Nantes, and that the record of blood 
and fire concludes with the great emigration of 1685. But 
for a hundred years thereafter the spirit of intolerance 
and persecution held its deadly sway. If nearly half a 
million Protestants left France at the Eevocation, there 
were fully twice as many who remained in their native 
land, and of these only a small minority abjured their 
faith. Their churches had been destroyed, their pastors 
banished, and themselves forced to wear an outward 
dress of Eoman Catholicism ; but in their hearts they 
were Huguenots still, and wlienever a leader was raised 
up for them they rallied round him and showed that the 
light of the Christian truth still burned within staunch 
French hearts. 

In the Cevennes the peasants retreated into the moun- 
tain fastnesses and held the persecutor at bay for years. 
But numbers finally overcame them, and open resistance 
ceased when the last of those heroic peasants lay dripping 
in his own blood. Then came the ''Church of the 
desert" with its midnight assemblies, its pastors hiding 
in holes and caves, its glorious martyrs. 

At this time the saviour of French Protestantism was 

Antoine Court Antoiuc Court, bom 1696, two years before the illustri- 
ous Claude Brousson sealed his faith with his life at 
Montpelier. At seventeen Court resolved to give his life 
to the restoration of French Protestantism. He began 
to preach, gathering together a little audience of eight 

74 



SUFFERING FOR THE FAITH 75 

or ten in some isolated barn or hole in the rocks. He 
was an orator, was without fear, and was eminently 
prudent withal. "When he was nineteen he was made church at 

^ Nismes 

pastor of the Reformed Church at Nismes, and a year 
later, in 1716, the first synod was held, the meeting tak- 
ing place in an old Roman quarry in the neighbourhood. 
"The pastors were six young men, peasants of the 
Cevennes, several of them younger even than Court him- 
self. They walked all night to the place of meeting, 
which meant for themselves, if taken, the gallows, and 
for their audience, penal servitude for life. At dawn 
the whole company knelt and invoked the presence of 
the Holy Ghost, after which Antoine Court stood up. 
He told them of the ruinous condition of their Church, 
and counselled that discipline be restored and a form of 
constitution drawn out and signed. Here are some of 
their rules : 1. Assemblies to be convened once a fort- 
night ; 2. Family prayer to be held three times a day ; 
3. The pastors to meet twice a year in synods. Six 
pastors signed the Covenant. The first was hanged in 
1718, the second and third in 1728, the fourth in 1732. 
One other beside Antoine Court escaped." 

In 1720 the Church at Languedoc held a midnight Treachery and 
meeting in a large cavern, Antoine Court presiding. 
Treachery had been at work and two companies of sol- 
diers burst in upon the astonished worshippers. Fifty 
men, women and children were made prisoners. Court 
himself having a "miraculous escape." "Some were 
sent to the galleys, and nineteen were sentenced to trans- 
portation. As they entered Nismes, drenched with rain, 
they sang a psalm while marching through the streets. 
They started for the seaport of La Rochelle chained to- 
gether and escorted by soldiers. Each night they slept 
in stables and were made to lie down in dung. At La 
Rochelle the whole party was stricken with malarial 
fever, of which several died. 

". . . The English ambassador induced the govern- 



76 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

ment to send them to England. The English chaplain 
took them on board a vessel, and a large crowd heaped 
blessings upon them as they sailed away to exile and to 
freedom. ' ' 

II 

In 1724 Louis XV thought he would outdo his prede- 

Edict of cessor, and accordingly issued an edict, some of the pro- 

Louis xv ../.-i.-i /-ll -r-i ■ • . 1 J 

Visions of which were as tollows : Every minister to be 
put to death, and any one helping them in any way to be 
rewarded by penal servitude for life. Life imprisonment 
was to be meted out to any one attending a Protestant 
service. All children were to be baptized by the priests 
within twenty-four hours of birth. No marriage to be 
held legal unless performed under Roman Catholic aus- 
pices. Every one who knew when a meeting was to be 
held and did not betray the fact to the authorities was to 
lose his property and go to the gallows. Whenever a 
Protestant pastor was arrested every Huguenot in the dis- 
trict was to be fined $25, 000 — amounting, in nearly every 
instance to confiscation of entire property. The absolute 
fiendishness of these provisions needs no comment ; they 
represent the high mark of Roman Catholic craft and 
cruelty. 

But the Reformed Church of France was not blotted 
Hunted but Qut. The meetings in the forests were continued, the 

Persistent ° ' 

galleys were recruited from the ever faithful Protestant 
ranks, and though minister after minister was made to 
ascend the gallows, there were plenty of brave hearts 
ready and eager to take his place in the pastorate. These 
pastors were hunted like solves through the country, 
bounties being placed on their heads whether taken dead 
or alive. Like criminals they were forced to resort to 
aliases. They travelled by night through the woods and 
fields. Journeying thus, Antoine Court once covered three 
hundred miles within the space of two months, speaking 
to three thousand of his people at thirty-two meetings. 
One pastor had a hut of stones hidden away in a ravine ; 



SUFFEEING FOR THE FAITH 



77 



this he used for his study where he prepared his sermons 
(sureljr they were sermons worth hearing). Another 
made his home in a hole covered over with brambles in 
the middle of a great plain ; here he read his Bible and 
slept, until one day some sheep fell into the hole and the 
shepherd, thus discovering the hiding-place, informed 
the magistrates. In 1758 Paul Rabaut, the "Apostle of 
the Desert," going by some lonely crossroads, would spy 
a placard : "Wanted, Paul Rabaut, the minister. Aged 
about forty ; visage plain, long and thin ; a little sun- 
burned ; black hair, aquiline nose ; has lost a tooth in the 
upper jaw," etc. The authorities rated his capture as 
being worth 20,000 francs — little realizing that the value 
of one such man as Paul Rabaut could not be expressed 
in terms of money. 

Ill 

But after the middle of the century persecution grew 
lighter and lighter. The wishes of Romanism finally 
were forced to give way to the growing spirit of human- 
ity. Toleration came at last, though with lagging foot- 
steps. In 1762, in the city of Toulouse, the last Prot- 
estant martyr ascended the scaffold. This was Pastor 



Paul Rabaut 



A Better Day 



Rochette, twenty-five years old. 



Last Martyr 

When the judge read 1763 



the sentence of death, Rochette knelt and prayed in the 
court-room. "The recorder shed tears, so did jailers and 
soldiers. Rochette kindly tm-ued to one of them : ' My 
friend, you would readily die for the king. Do not pity 
me, who am going to die for my God.' 

"At 2 p. M., the last Protestant scaffold was made 
ready. He walked barefoot, with a placard around his 
neck— Minister of the Pretended Reformed Religion. 
Every balcony and house-top was crowded. The whole 
city was shocked. Pity and sympathy were on every 
face. Rochette stepped on the scaffold, saying, Here 
comes the happy day. It was coming— for the martyr 
first, and soon for his brethren." 



Toleration 



78 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

The last minister to receive the death sentence was 
Beranger, in 1767 — but only his effigy was hanged. The 
last pastor to be imprisoned was Broca, who was thrown 
into a dungeon in 1773. The last Protestant assembly to 
be attacked by the dragoons was the Church of Orange. 
Eight of those present were captured, and the officer in 
charge begged them to escape. This they refused, saying 
it was for public authority to set them at liberty. They 
remained in prison for two months and then a pardon 
from the king gave them freedom. In 1780, when the re- 
Edict of peal of the persecuting edicts seemed imminent, the as- 
sembly of the Roman Catholic clergy sent a petition to 
Louis XVI asking him to recommence persecution again, 
but he refused. Seven years later the Edict of Toleration 
put in an appearance. It caused a great debate in the 
Parliament of Paris. One delegate declared that the 
Virgin had come to him in a dream and bidden him fight 
the heretics. Holding aloft a crucifix he demanded, 
''Will you crucify Jesus again'?'' But public opinion 
was for abolishing the Inquisition, and the Edict passed. 
It provided that Protestants could marry, bury their 
dead, engage in a trade, and hold private worship. In 
1802 Huguenots were given the privilege of holding pub- 
lic services, and the Pretended Reformed Religion could 
at last stand on a legal equality with the Roman Catholic 
Church. 

IV 
The French Revolution was the ultimate result of the 
Roman Catholic effort to crush out Protestantism in 
France. In that reign of terror the Church had to meet 
what it had pitilessly inflicted upon the Huguenots. But 
the spirit of reform was to live and of religious reform. 
There was a great revival in France in 1827-30, which 
roused the French Protestants to new life. Bible, tract 
and missionary societies were established, Sunday-schools 
opened, philanthropies organized ,• and in this Christian 
work dissenters of every shade — Wesleyans, Baptists, 



SUFFEEING FOE THE FAITH 



79 



Congregatioualists — co-operated heartily with the Ee- 
formed Churches. In literatme the French Protestants 
have honourable rank, and France is steadily verging 
towards the realization of a Protestant Eepublic in which 
religious liberty shall be secured as thoroughly as in 
America. 

The separation of Chui'ch and State is already an ac- 
complished fact, and the most fateful fact for France since 
Waterloo. Frenchmen are proud to-day to claim as an- 
cestors those martyrs who helped with their blood in es- 
tablishing the great principle of religious freedom. 




CHAPTER V 
LIFE IN THE GALLEYS 



Living Death 



Strong 
Character 



Amadee's 
Memoirs 



Youth of 
Eighteen 



THOUSAN^DS of the Huguenots who attempted 
to escape fi-om France after the Revocation were 
arrested and condemned to the galleys. This 
was a punishment far worse than torture and death. 
Men of gentle birth and breeding, whose only fault was 
their Protestant religion, were worn to death in this 
inhuman form of slavery, whose horrors are almost 
beyond description. One of the most graphic narratives 
of this terrible experience is given in this chapter, in 
order to show of what stuff the French Protestants were 
made, that they would undergo such merciless fate rather 
than abjure their faith. We can only honour and admire 
these heroes, while we abhor the government that per- 
mitted the galley system to exist. 

The following account of life in the galleys is based 
upon the memoirs of a young Huguenot named Amad^e, 
who in 1700 was convicted of the crime of trying to leave 
his country when he was forbidden to practice his religion 
in it. 

Amadee was a mere stripling of eighteen when he was 
sentenced to the galleys for being on the fi'ontier without 
a passport. His youth aroused the pity of his captors, 
and they made many attempts to get him to abjure his 
faith. One priest told him that a beautiful woman, the 
possessor of a large fortune, had expressed a desire to 
marry him in case he should renounce his faith ; and 
other equally attractive bribes were offered him — but all 
in vain, for the young man met each temptation with the 
answer that he was "determined to endure even the 

80 



LIFE IN THE GALLEYS 81 

ffalleys or death, rather than renounce the faith " in Bribery 

° "^ Failed 

which he had been educated. Finding their etiorts of 
little avail, the priests finally declared that his soul was 
in the possession of the devil and therefore gave his body 
over to the civil authorities. 

In company with a fellow prisoner, to whom he was 
tied and handcuffed, Amadee was led away to the iDrison 
at Tournay where he was thrown into a loathsome dun- 
geon. Six weeks was he forced to drag out a miserable Dungeon Life 
existence in this human kennel — living on a scanty 
allowance of bread and water, sleeping on the bare pave- 
ment, and "suffering inexpressibly" from the accumu- 
lated filth of his apartment. From Tournay he was 
taken to Lisle, where he was thrown into a room where 
about thirty unfortunates were confined in total darkness 
— not a ray of light entering the apartment. These 
jDrisoners were of the lowest type, and their vile company 
was abhorrent to Amadee. He did not remain among 
them for long, however, for the turnkey, fancying him- 
self insulted, removed the youth to a solitary dungeon 
whose floor was covered knee- deep with water. Amadee 
now refused to eat the j^ortion of bread which was brought 
to him and resigned himself to a lingering death ; but 
fate, in the jjerson of the Grand Provost of the prison, 
ordered otherwise. The Provost, who was himself of 
Protestant extraction, upon hearing that Amadee was a 
Huguenot, at once ordered him removed to a more com- 
fortable quarter of the prison and saw to it that he was 
supplied with wholesome food and drink. 

This comparatively mild detention did not last a great The Gaiieys 
while, for at the end of three months Amadee was 
ordered to depart for Marseilles with a party of galley- 
slaves. On the journey, which was one of some three 
hundred miles, a beautiful girl was attracted to Amadee 
and approached him, holding a rosary with a crucifix 
attached to it, which she offered him. Though he would 
gladly have accepted it as a token from the tender- 



82 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Powerful 
Temptation 



Heroic 
Resistance 



A Vision 



A Galley 
Described 



hearted maiden, he felt that it would be considered as a 
sign of abjuration of his own faith, and heroically 
declined it. That evening she came to his prison bring- 
ing a priest, and declared her object to be his conversion. 
"This," said Amadee, ''was a trial that God alone 
enabled me to go tlu^ough. Once I became faint from 
emotions, and I was on the i)oint of yielding. I pressed 
the soft, delicate hand, that I held, to my lips again and 
again, and tried to release it, but I could not let it go. 
The priest saw my yielding spirit. ' That hand may be 
yours, ' he said, ' for all eternity, by renouncing yoiu" heresy 
and embracing the true religion.' Did God put those 
woi'ds into his mouth to nerve me with corn-age ? ' No,' 
I exclaimed, with new resolution ; ' it might be mine for 
this life, but I should purchase it by an eternity of misery. 
Let me rather die a galley-slave, at peace with my own 
conscience and my God.' Yet, when I saw her no more, 
when the last glimpse of her sweet and sorrowful face was 
gone, when even her white dress could no longer be dis- 
cerned, I sat down and wept aloud. At length the agony 
of my soul began to yield to a still, small voice within. I 
grew calm, and thought I was dying. ' God hears my 
prayers, ' said I ; ' He has sent His angels to minister to 
me, to conduct me to the realms of bliss.' Shall I confess 
it? The face of the sweet Catholic girl was ever before 
me. She seemed to emit a radiance of light through my 
prison. I know not whether my dream was a sleeping or 
waking one, but methought she leaned over me, and, 
raising the hand I had resigned, said in a soft, silver 
voice, 'Thou hast won this for eternity.' How ofteu, in 
successive years, when chained to the oar, have I heard 
that voice and seen the beautiful vision ! God ministers 
to us by His holy angels ! ' ' 

When he arrived at his destination he was placed on 
board a galley called the Heureuse, of which he gives the 
following description: "Ours was a hundred and fifty 
feet long and fifty broad, with but one deck, which cov- 



LIFE m THE GALLEYS 83 

ered the hold. The deck rises about a foot in the middle, 
and slopes towards the edges to let the water run off more 
easily ; for when a galley is loaded it seems to swim under 
the water ; and the sea continually rushes over it. To 
prevent the sea from entering the hold, where the masts 
are placed, a long case of boards, called the coursier, is 
fixed in the middle, running from one end of the galley 
to the other. The slaves, who are the rowers, have each 
a board raised from the deck under which the water 
passes, which serves them for a footstool, otherwise their 
feet would be constantly in the water. A galley hiis fifty Three Hun- 
benches for rowers, twenty-five on each side ; each bench 
is ten feet long, one end fixed in the coursier, that runs 
through the boat, the other in the band or side of the 
boat ; the benches are half a foot thick, and placed at 
four feet distance from each other, and are covered with 
sackcloth, stuffed with flock, and a cowhide thrown over 
them, which, reaching to the footstool, gives them the 
appearance of large trunks. To these the galley-slaves 
are chained, six to a bench. The oars are fifty feet long, 
and are poised in equilibrio upon the apostic, or piece of 
timber for this purpose. They are constructed so that the 
thirteen feet of the oar that go into the boat are equal in 
weight to the thirty-seven which go into the water. It 
would be impossible for the slaves to grasp them, and 
handles are affixed for rowing. 

' ' The master, or comite, stands always at the stern, near The Master 
the captain, to receive his orders. There are sous-comites, 
one in the middle and one near the prow, each with a 
whip of cords to exercise as they see fit on the slaves. 
The comite blows a silver whistle, which hangs from his 
neck ; the slaves have their oars in readiness and strike 
all at once, and keep time so exactly, that the half a 
hundred oars seem to make but one movement. There is 
an absolute necessity for thus rowing together, for should 
one be lifted up or fall too soon, those before would strike 
the oar with the back part of their heads. Any mistake 



84 



THE FREI^CH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Pitiless 
Discipline 



Self-sacrifice 
and Love 



of this kind is followed by blows given with merciless 
fury. The labour of a galley-slave has become a proverb ; 
it is the greatest fatigue that a mau can bear. Six men 
are chained to each bench on both sides of the coursier 
wholly naked, sitting with one foot on a block of timber, 
the other resting on the bench before them, holding in 
their hands an enormous oar. Imagine them lengthen- 
ing their bodies, their arms stretched out to push the oar 
over the backs of those before them ; they then plunge 
the oar into the sea, and fall back into the hollow below, 
to repeat again and again the same muscular action. The 
fatigue and misery of their labour seems to be without 
parallel; They often faint, and are brought to life by the 
lash. Sometimes a bit of bread dipped in wine is put 
into their mouths, when their labour cannot for a moment 
be spared. Sometimes, when they faint, they are thrown 
into the sea, and another takes the place. ' ' 

An incident which Amadee relates shows admirably the 
Huguenot character with its self-sacrifice and brotherly 
love. He had been recommended to the captain of the 
galley for the position of steward of the provisions, and 
the captain had ordered him to be brought into his pres- 
ence. " 'They tell me,' he said, ' you are the only slave 
that can be trusted, and you are a Huguenot.' I an- 
swered submissively, that there were other Huguenots on 
board the galley that could be trusted. '■ I will try you, 
said he, ' and give you the care of the stores ; but, re- 
member, for the slightest infidelity you receive the basti- 
nado.' " The office entitles the slave who holds it to an 
exemption from the oar and a dinner every day upon the 
captain's j) revisions. 

''Such a situation was comparative happiness to the 
hard duty I was undergoing ; my heart beat rapidly. I 
made no reply, for I was buried in thought. ' Dog of a 
Christian, ' he exclaimed, ' ha^e you no thanks ? ' At 
this moment a struggle, not inferior to that I had experi- 
enced once before, took possession of my mind. ' There 



LIFE m THE GALLEYS 85 

is another Huguenot on board this galley,' said I, 'who Preferring 
is every way more worthy of the office than myself. He 
is an old man, broken down by labour, he is unable to 
work at the oar, and even stripes can get but little service 
from him. I am yet able to endure ; grant him this place, 
and let me still continue at the oai'.' The captain seemed 
doubtful whether he understood me. ' I know who he 
means,' said the comite, 'it is old Bangillon.' 'Let him 
be brought,' said the commander. Bangillon was brought 
forward, bowed down by age and labour, his venerable 
head covered with white hair. The comite acknowl- 
edged that, excepting inability of strength, he had no 
faults, and was respected for his integrity by every one. 
It is unnecessary to go into the details. He was ap- 
pointed to the office, and the young Amadee returned to 
the oar. ' How weak was my virtue ! ' he exclaims ; 
* though it enabled me to resign the office to this vener- 
able minister (for such he was, once), it could not restrain 
bitter emotions. I felt my face bedewed with scalding 
tears of regret, as I once more commenced my hard 
labour. But when, a short time after, I beheld the 
venerable Bangillon losing the emaciated and distressed 
appearance he had worn, smiling benignantly on me, and 
imploring for me the blessing of heaven, I no longer 
murmured ; I was rewarded for my sacrifice.' " 

When Amadee had been a slave for seven years his Gaiiey in 
galley, together with several others, engaged in a strug- ^" ^ 
gle with an English frigate. After describing the first 
part of the battle, he goes on to say : ' ' We have seen 
how dexterously the frigate placed herself alongside of 
us, by which we were exposed to the fire of her artillery, 
charged with grape-shot. It happened that my seat, on 
which there were five Frenchmen and one Turk, lay just 
opposite one of the cannon, which was charged. The 
two vessels lay so close, that, by raising my body in the 
least, I could touch the cannon with my hand. A 
neighbourhood so terrible filled us aU with silent con- 



86 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

sternation. My companions lay flat on the seat and in 
that posture endeavoured to avoid the coming blow. I 
had presence of mind enough to perceive that the gun 
was pointed in such a manner that those who lay flat 
would receive its contents ; and I sat as upright as pos- 
sible, but being chained, could not quit my station. In 

Es\7p"°"^ this manner I awaited death, which I had scarce any 
hope of escaping. My eyes were fixed upon the gunner, 
who with his lighted match fired one piece after another. 
He came nearer and nearer to the fatal one. I lifted my 
heart to God in fervent prayers. Never had I felt such 
assurances of divine mercy, whether life or death awaited 
me. I looked steadily at the gunner as he applied the 
lighted match. What followed I only knew by the 
consequences. The explosion had stunned me ; I was 
blown as far as my chain would permit. Here I re- 
mained, I cannot say how long, lying across the body of 
the lieutenant of the galley, who had been killed some 
time before. At last, recovering my senses and finding 
myself lying upon a dead body, I crept back to my seat. 
It was night, and the darkness was such that I could see 
neither the blood that was spilled, nor the carnage 
around me. I imagined that their former fears still 
operated upon my companions ; and that they lay on 
their faces to avoid the no longer threatening danger. I 
felt no pain from any wound and believed myself un- 
injured. 

Death and '^ J remained in a tranquil state for some moments, and 

even began to be amused with the motionless silence of 
my fellow slaves, who, I supposed, were still lying as 
they first threw themselves. Desirous to free them from 
their terrors, I pushed the one next to me. ' Rise, my 
boy,' said I, 'the danger is over.' I received no an- 
swer. I spoke louder ; all was silence and Egyptian 
darkness. 

'' Isouf, a Turk, had often boasted that he never knew 
what fear was. He was a remarkable fellow for his truth 



LIFE IN THE GALLEYS 87 

and honesty. 'My good fellow,' said I, in a tone of 
raillei-y, ' up, the danger is over, you may be as brave as 
ever. Come, I will help you.' I leaned over and took 
his hand. O horror ! my blood still freezes at the re- 
membrance ; it came off in mine, stiff and deadly cold. 
The first gleam of light showed me my companions all 
slaughtered ! Of the six on our seat I alone sursdved. 
Alas ! I may well say, I was the miserable survivor : The sote 

., , . -r . , Survivor 

their toils and agonies were over. It was some tune be- 
fore I discovered that I was wounded, and then not by 
pain, but by blood which deluged me." After a long 
period of suffering, Amadee was considered to be 
sufficiently recovered to take his place again at the oar. 

The winter following the above engagement, Amadee 
was confined to winter quarters — a short account of which 
he gives. During the winter months, if it chanced to be Q^^rtYrg 
a season of peace, the galleys were laid up for the time 
being. " The order is given from Court about the latter 
end of October. The galleys are then arranged along 
the quay. The galley is entirely cleared, and the slaves 
remain fixed to their wretched quarters for the winter. 
They spread their greatcoats for beds on a board, and 
here they sleep. When the weather is extremely cold 
they have a tent, made of coarse woollen cloth, raised 
over the galley. They never have fire or blankets. It 
is now a season of some rest for them, and they are per- 
mitted to earn a little money. Among the variety there 
are often tradesmen, tailors, shoemakers, gravers, etc. 
These are sometimes permitted to build wooden stalls 
upon the quay opposite their respective galleys. The 
keeper chains them in their stalls. Here they may earn 
a few halfpence a day, and this situation is comparative 
ease. There is, however, still hard labour aboard the comparative 

' ' Ease 

galley. The comites still use the lash without mercy, 
and often without discrimination. One of the hardest 
labours to Amadee, because the most tyrannical and de- 
grading, was the exhibition to which they were constantly 



88 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Entertain- 
ment of 
Guests 



Heartless 
Sport 



exposed by the officers for the entertainment of their 
friends. The galley was cleaned anew, and the slaves 
were ordered to shave, and put on their red habits and 
red caps, which are their uniform, when they wear any 
garments. This done, they are made to sit between the 
benches, so that nothing but heads with red caps are 
visible, from one end of the galley to the other. In this 
attitude the gentlemen and ladies, who come as spectators, 
are saluted by the slaves with a loud and mournful cry 
of 'Heu.' This seems but one voice; it is repeated 
three times, when a person of high distinction enters. 
During this salute the drums beat, and the soldiers, in 
their best clothes, are ranged along the sides of the boat 
with their guns shouldered. The masts are decorated 
with streamers ; the chamber at the stern is also adorned 
with hangings of red velvet, fringed with gold. The 
ornaments in sculpture, at the stern, thus beautified to 
the water's edge ; the oars lying on the seats, and ap- 
pearing without the galley like wings, painted of different 
colours, — a galley thus adorned strikes the eye magnifi- 
cently ; but let the spectator reflect on the misery of 
three hundred slaves, scarred with stripes, emaciated 
and dead-eyed, chained day and night, and subject to 
the arbitrary will of creatures devoid of humanity, and 
he will no longer be enchanted by the gaudy outside. 
The spectators, a large proportion of whom are often 
ladies, pass from one end of the galley to the other, and 
return to the stern, where they seat themselves. The 
comite then blows his whistle. At the first blast every 
slave takes off his cap ; at the second, his coat ; at the 
third, his shirt, and they remain naked. Then comes 
what is called the monkey -exhibition. They are all 
ordered to lie along the seats, and the spectator loses sight 
of them ; then they lift one finger, next their arms, then 
their head, then one leg, and so on till they appear 
standing upright. Then they open their mouths, cough 
all together, embrace, and throw themselves into ridicu- 



LIFE IN THE GALLEYS 



89 



lous attitudes, wearing, to appearance of the spectator, 
an air of gayety, strangely contrasted with the sad, 
hollow eyes of many of the performers, and ferocious, 
hardened despair of others. To the reflecting mind 
there can scarcely be anything more degrading than 
this exhibition ; men, subject constantly to the lash, 
doomed for life to misery, perpetually called upon to 
amuse their fellow beings by antic tricks." 

To conclude this melancholy history, be it said that 
Amadee was released after thirteen years of this miserable Released After 
existence. Owing to the intercession of Queen Anne, of Years^*" 
England, a hundred and thirty-six Huguenot slaves were 
given their freedom on condition that they should pay 
their own expenses in leaving the country. And of these 
fortunate persons the hero of this sketch made one. 
After all his sufferings, it is good to know that he found 
happiness and freedom. 




WassMam ot Ribault 



BOOK TWO 
EARLY ATTEMPTS AT COLONIZATION 



CHAPTER I 
YILLEGAGNON'S FAILURE IN BRAZIL 



THE earliest efforts to settle a body of French caiigny's 
. . . T 1 Colonization 

Protestants m the New World were inspired by scheme 
Admiral Coliguy, more than a century before 
the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and before the bitter 
religious persecutions had begun in France. Admiral 
Coligny was easily the greatest Frenchman of the age in 
far-seeing statesmanship, as he was in character the most 
resolute, high-minded and sagacious, and in looking at 
the conditions of France he saw clearly the dangers 
which threatened her and the people he loved. In 
establishing a Protestant colony he aimed at founding a 
refuge for the Protestants wherein they would be free 
from the persecutions which he realized must soon de- 
scend upon them with fury, for there was every indica- 
tion that the tempest of hatred was about to bm'st. The His pian 
bitterness and malignancy of the Romish clergy were al- 
ready being aroused to feverish activity by the growth 
and success of the Reformed Church. Their hatred was 
only intensified by the fact that the virtues and sobriety 
of the Huguenot ministers threw into unpleasant relief 
their own utter lack of conscience and morals ; the 
Christian and self-sacrificing character of their adver- 
saries served only to heighten their rage. Their open 
advocacy in Parliament of introducing the Spanish In- 
quisition to cope with heretics gave Coligny his strongest 
impulse towards founding a Protestant colony, and he 
straightway sought the ear of Henry II. Henry's consent 
was gained, for to him the project appealed as an oppor- 
tunity for winning to France a share of the rich domain 

93 



and Purpose 



94 



THE FREI^CH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



claimed as a monopoly by Spain and Portugal. The idea 
of adding to the prosperity of France by increasing her 
industrial resources appealed to Coligny also, but in his 
case the religious motive was the dominating one. 



Brazil Chosen 

July, 1555 



Difficult Con- 
ditions 



II 

Brazil was selected as the site for the first Protestant 
French colony in America, and Durand de Villegaguon, 
a soldier of fortune who had professed the Reformed 
doctrines, was chosen as leader. In July, 1555, the 
little fleet, consisting of two ships and a transport, set 
sail from Havre de Grace, carrying several hundred 
colonists. The character of many of these colonists was 
not propitious for the success of the venture, for while 
some were Protestants, including noblemen, soldiers and 
mechanics, the majority were recruits from the prisons 
of Paris. So many of them deserted on the way, how- 
ever, that only eighty were left to complete the voyage, 
and of these but thirty were artisans. After a long and 
stormy experience, the adventurers reached the wonder- 
ful Bay of Rio de Janeiro. Here they landed on an 
island, constructed huts, and commenced building a fort 
which they called Fort Coligny. 

The condition of the colony was precarious, and un- 
less fresh supplies of food and reinforcements of men 
were received from France, the venture would prove 
a failure. The island was too small to admit of 
cultivation, and on the mainland the settlers were 
threatened by the Portuguese, who regarded them as un- 
lawful invaders of the soil. Many of the colonists re- 
turned to France in the ships which had brought them 
over, leaving Villegagnon with a diminished band con- 
sisting mostly of the convicts he had taken from the 
prisons. In addition to the dangers of famine and 
destruction by the Portuguese, internal dissensions threat- 
ened the life of the colony. "Villegagnon signalized 
his new-born Protestantism by an intolerable solicitude 



VILLEGAGNON'S FAILURE IK BRAZIL 95 

for the manners and morals of his followers. The whij) 
and the pillory requited the least offense. The wild 
aud discordant crew, starved and flogged for a season 
into submission, conspired at length to rid themselves of 
him ; but while they debated whether to poison him, 
blow him up, or murder him and his officers in their 
sleep, three Scotch soldiers, probably Calvinists, revealed 
the plot, and the vigorous hand of the commandant 
crushed it in the bud." 

In response to ViUegagnon's letters of appeal, Coligny Missionary 
sent out re-enforcements under Bois-Lecomte, a nephew of 
Villegagnon. The better part of these fresh recruits 
were Huguenots, and among them were several young 
theological students from Geneva, who were full of zeal 
at their opportunity to carry forward the growth of the 
Reformed religion. Equally zealous, were the two 
ministers, Pierre Richer aud Gillaume Chartier, the first 
Protestant clergymen to cross the Atlantic, and who were 
anxious, as the old chronicler Lescarbot says, "to cause 
the light of the Gospel to shine forth among those barbar- 
ous people, godless, lawless, and without religion." This 
little band of Genevans was headed by the venerable Phil- 
ippe de Corguilleray, Sieur de Pont, an old neighbour of 
Coligny, who had left his estates in France to enjoy the 
religious privileges of Geneva. Several other noblemen 
joined the expedition, which was notable for its quality. 
Sailing from France on November 20, 1556, after four 
months on the "great and impetuous sea," the pilgrims 
lauded at Fort Coligny. " The first thing we did," says 
Jean de Lery, one of the Genevan students, "was to 
join in thanksgiving to God." 

Ill 

From Parkman's graphic account we quote the follow- Theological 
ing : " For a time all was ardour and hope. Men of '^p"*^^ 
birth and station and the ministers themselves, laboured 
with pick aud shovel to finish the fort. Every day ex- 



Lead 



96 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

hortations, sermons, prayers, followed iu close succession, 
and Villegagnon was always present, kneeling on a vel- 
vet cushion brought after him by a page. Soon, how- 
ever, he fell into sharp controversy with the ministers 
upon points of faith. Among the emigrants was a 
student of the Sorbonne, one Cointac, between whom and 
the ministers arose a fierce and unintermitted war of 
words. Is it lawful to mix water with the wine of the 
Eucharist ? May the sacramental bread be made of meal 
of Indian corn! These and similar points of dispute 
filled the fort with wrangliugs, begetting cliques, factious 
and feuds without number. Villegagnon took part with 
the student, and between them they devised a new doc- 
trine, abhorrent alike to Geneva and to Eome. The ad- 
vent of this nondescript heresy was the signal of redoub- 
led strife. . . . Villegagnon felt himself, too, in a false 

A False positiou. Ou One side he depended on the Protestant, Co- 

liguy ; on the other, he feared the court. There were 
Catholics iu the colony who might report him as an open 
heretic. On this point his doubts were set at rest ; for a 
ship from France brought him a letter from the Cardinal 
of Lorraine, couched, it is said, in terms which restored 
him forthwith to the bosom of the Church. Villegagnon 
now affirmed that he had been deceived in Calvin, and 
pronounced him a 'frightful heretic' He became des- 
potic beyond measure, and would bear no opposition. 
The ministers, reduced nearly to starvation, found them- 
selves under a tyranny worse than that from which they 
had fled. 

Expelling the ' ' At length hc drovc them from the fort, and forced them 
to bivouac on the mainland, at the risk of being butch- 
ered by Indians, until a vessel loading Brazil-wood in the 
harbour should be ready to carry them back to France. 
Having rid himself of the ministers, he caused three of 
the more zealous Calvinists to be seized, dragged to the 
edge of a rock, and thrown into the sea. A fourth, equally 
obnoxious, but who, being a tailor, could ill be spared, 



Ministers 



VILLEGAGNON'S FAILUEE IN BEAZIL 97 

was permitted to live on condition of recantation. Then, 
mustering the colonists, he warned them to shun the 
heresies of Luther and Calvin ; threatened that all who 
openly professed those detestable doctrines should share 
the fate of their three comrades : and, his harangue over, 
feasted the whole assembly in token, says the narrator, 
of joy and triumph. 

' ' Meanwhile, in their crazy vessel, the banished minis- Penis and 

Privations 

ters drifted slowly on their way. Storms fell upon them, 

their provisions failed, their water casks were emptj^, and, 

tossing in the wilderness of waves, or rocking on the long 

swells of subsiding gales, they sank almost to despair. 

In their famine they chewed the Brazil-wood with which 

the vessel was laden, devoured every scrap of leather, 

singed and ate the horn of lanterns, hunted rats through 

the hold, and sold them to each other at enormous prices. 

At length, stretched on the deck, sick, listless, attenuated, 

and scarcely able to move a limb, they descried across 

the waste of sea the faint, cloud-like line that marked the 

coast of Brittany. Their perils were not past ; for, if we 

may believe one of them, Jean de Lery, they bore a sealed 

letter from Villegagnon to the magistrates of the first 

French port at which they might arrive. It denounced 

them as heretics, worthy to be burned. Happily, the a Disastrous 

magistrates leaned to the Eeformed, and the malice of the 

commandant failed of its victims." 

Soon after the return of the ministers to France, Ville- 
gagnon himself followed them, leaving the deserted colony 
to its fate. The end was not long in coming, and before 
the close of the year 1558 a Portuguese fleet arrived in the 
Bay of Eio de Janeiro and overpowered the feeble re- 
sistance of the little garrison, razed the fort, and put its 
unhappy defenders to the sword. Thus Coliguy's first 
experiment in colonization failed most disastrously. 



Failure 



CHAPTEE II 
DISASTEOUS ATTEMPTS IN FLOEIDA 



Ribaulfs Ex- 
pedition, 1562 



River of May 



; 



^OUE years after the failure of the colony at Fort 
Coligny, the Admiral again undertook his cher- 
ished plan of colonization. Under the leadership 
of Jean Eibault, who was the greatest navigator and cap- 
tain of France, and a staunch Huguenot, an expedition 
sailed from Havre for Florida on the 18th of February, 
1562. The two ships contained a goodly company of 
volunteers, and nearly all the soldiers and labourers, as 
well as the few noblemen, were Calvinists. Eene de 
Laudonuiere, next to Eibault, was the leading man among 
them, while another of the party, Nicholas Barre, had 
been with Villegagnon in the expedition to Brazil. 

Six weeks after setting out from France the ships made 
the coast of Florida, and proceeding northward reached 
the mouth of a large river which was named the Eiver 
of May (now the St. John's) because it was the first of 
May when the voyagers sailed into its welcome calm. 
Here they landed, and immediately knelt in thanksgiv- 
ing to God, and in prayer that He would bless their en- 
terprise and bring to the knowledge of the Saviour the 
heathen inhabitants of this new world. Thus both these 
unfortunate colonies were founded in the spirit of evan- 
gelism and missions. 

The friendly natives who gathered fearlessly about 
them watched with wonder this ceremony and the further 
formal proceedings whereby Eibault took possession of the 
country in the name of the King of France, setting up in 
evidence a pillar of stone, engraven with the royal arms, 
upon a small elevation in a grove of cypress and palm 
trees near the harbour. 

98 



DISASTEOUS ATTEMPTS IN FLOEIDA 99 

Then the French explored the coast further, until they 
reached the channel of Port Royal, off the coast of what Port Royai 
is now South Carolina. Entering the harbour, *'oneof 
the largest and fairest of the greatest havens of the 
world," Eibault decided here to lay the foundations of his 
colony. The site of a fort was chosen not far from the 
Beaufort of to-day, and Charlesfort was the name given chariesfort 
in honour of the boy King who had lately come to the 
throne of France. When the work was under way, Eibault 
left a number of his men to garrison the little fort, and 
returned to France, to report his findings and secure 
larger supplies of men and means for the colony. He 
reached Dieppe only five months from the day of sailing. 
But during this brief interval France had been plunged 
into civil war by the unprovoked assault which the Duke 
of Guise had made upon a Protestant assembly in a town 
of Champagne, and the cold-blooded slaughter of a half 
a hundi-ed inoffensive persons. In the midst of such 
troublous times it was impossible to get either men or 
money for Florida, and Eibault followed his old leader, 
Admiral Coligny, into the field for the Protestants. Thus 
the small body of men at Charlesfort was left to its fate. 

Things had gone from bad to worse with them after 
Eibault' s departure. Albert, their leader, developed into 
a harsh tyrant, and was finally killed on account of his 
cruelty. Famine stared them in the face, thoughts of 9?'°"J . 

'J 7 o Abandoned 

home filled their hearts, and they resolved to forsake 
their life of dreary monotony and escape from their prison 
at all hazards. After infinite toil they constructed a 
rude ship, fitting her with sails made from their shirts 
and their bedding, and set forth on their long journey 
across the Atlantic. A long stretch of calm exhausted 
their supplies, and fierce gales racked their rude craft 
until she leaked at every seam. Many died fi^om thirst 
and exhaustion, while others were barely able to sustain 
life by chewing upon their shoes and leather doublets. 
After a series of indescribable privations and sufferings 



100 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



the survivors were driven frantic with joy at the sight 
of the coast of France. 



Laudonniere's 
Expedition 



April, 1564 



Account by 
Laudonniere 



J03 
W 



elcome 



II 

Coligny knew nothing of the fate which had befallen 
his second attempt at colonization, and when the first 
civil war was ended by the peace of Amboise, which 
brought the Protestants peace for a time, he obtained 
permission of the King to fit out three ships to go to 
the rescue of the Florida expedition, Laudonniere was 
placed in command, and a number of noblemen together 
with experienced officers and sailors joined his party. 
This expedition sailed April 22, 1564, and safely reached 
the mouth of the St. John's. A graphic idea of what 
took place thereafter may be had from the following 
account, written by Laudonniere himself : 

Afterwards, we passed between Anquilla and Ane- 
garda, sailing towards New France, where we arrived 
fifteen days after, to wit : on Thursday, the 22d of June, 
about three of the clock in the afternoon. 

. . . The next day, the 23d of this month, I gave 
commandment to weigh anchor, and to hoist our sails to 
sail towards the Eiver of May, where we arrived two 
days after, and cast anchor. Afterwards, going on land 
with some number of gentlemen and soldiers, to know for 
a certainty the singularities of this place, we espied the 
paracoussy (chief) of the country which came towards us, 
which, having espied us, cried, very far off, Antipola ! 
Antipola ! and, being so joyful that he could not contain 
himself, he came to meet us, accompanied with two of 
his sons, as fair and mighty persons as might be found in 
all the world, which had nothing in their mouths but this 
word — amy J amy ; that is to say, friend, friend ; yea, and 
knowing those which were there in the first voyage, they 
went principally to them to use this speech unto them. 
There was in their train a great number of men and 
women, which still made very much of us, and, by evi- 



DISASTEOUS ATTEMPTS IN FLOEIDA 101 

dent signs, made us understand how glad they were of our 
arrival. 

. . , I was of opinion, if it seemed good unto them, 
to seat ourselves about the Eiver of May, seeing, also 
that, in our first voyage, we found the same only among 
all the rest to abound in maize and corn, besides the gold 
and silver that were found there : a thing that put me in 
hope of some happy discovery in time to come. After I 
had proposed these things, every one gave his opinion 
thereof ; and, in fine, all resolved, namely, those which 
had been with me in the first voyage, that it was expe- 
dient to seat themselves rather on the Eiver of May than 
on any other, until they might hear news of France. 
This point being thus agreed upon, we sailed towards the site selected 
river, and used such diligence that, with the favour of 
the winds, we arrived the morrow after, about the break 
of day, which was on Thursday, 29th of Jime. 

Having cast anchor, I embarked all my stuff, and the 
soldiers of my company, to sail right towards the open- 
ing of this river, wherein we entered a good way up, and 
found a creek, of a reasonable bigness, which invited us 
to refresh ourselves a little, while we reposed ourselves 
there. Afterwards we went on shore, to seek out a place 
. . . then we discovered a little hill adjoining unto a 
great vale, very green, and, in form, flat ; wherein were Landing 
the fairest meadows of the world, and grass to feed cattle. 
Moreover, it is environed with a great number of brooks 
of fresh water, and high woods, which make the vale 
more delectable to the eye. After I had taken the view, 
thereof, at mine ease, I named it, at the request of our 
soldiers, the Vale of Laudonuiere. . . . 

. . . We gathered our spirits together, and, march- 
ing with a cheerful courage, we came to the place which 
we had chosen to make our habitation in : whereupon, at 
that instant, near the river's brink, we strewed a num- 
ber of boughs and leaves, to take our rest on them the 
night following, which we found exceeding sweet, because 



102 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

of the pain which before we had taken in our 
travel. 

Thanksgiving On the morrow, about break of day, I commanded a 
^^ trumpet to be sounded, that, being assembled, we might 

give God thanks for our favourable and ha^jpy arrival. 
Then we sang a psalm of thanksgiving unto God, be- 
seeching Him of His grace to continue His accustomed 
goodness towards us. His poor servants, and aid us in 
all enterprises that all might turn to His glory and the 
advancement of our King. The prayer ended, every man 
began to take courage. 

Building a Aftcrwards, having measured out a piece of ground, 

in the form of a triangle, we endeavoured ourselves on all 
sides — some to bring earth, some to cut faggots, and 
others to raise and make the rampart ; for there was not 
a man that had not either a shovel, or cutting-hook, or 
hatchet, as well to make the ground plain by cutting 
down the trees, as for the building the fort, which we did 
hasten, in such cheerfulness, that, within a few days, the 
effect of our diligence was apparent. . . . 

Our fort was built in the form of a triangle ; the side 
towards the west, which was towards the laud, was 
inclosed with a little trench, and raised with turns made 
in the form of a battlement, of nine feet high ; the other 
side, which was towards the river, was inclosed with a 
palisade of planks of timber, after the manner that 
gabions are made. On the south side, there was a kind 
of bastion, within which I caused an house for the 
munition to be built ; it was all builded with faggots and 
sand, saving about two or three feet high, with turf, 
whereof the battlements were made. In the midst, I 
caused a great court to be made, of eighteen paces long 
and broad, in the midst whereof, on the one side drawing 
towards the south, I builded a corpse de gard, and an 
house on the other side, towards the north, which I 
caused to be raised somewhat too high, for, within a 
short while after, the wind beat it down ; and experiences 



DISASTROUS ATTEMPTS IN FLOEIDA 103 

taught me that we may not build with high stages in this 
country, by reason of the winds whereunto it is subject. 
One of the sides that enclosed my court, which I made 
very fair and large, reached unto the range of my mu- 
nitions, and, on the other side, towards the river, was 
mine own lodging, round about which were galleries, all 
covered. One principal door of my lodging was in the 
midst of the great place, and the other was towards the 
river. A good distance from the fort, I built an oven, to 
avoid the danger against fire, because the houses are of 
palm-leaves, which will soon be burned after the fire 
catcheth hold of them, so that, with much ado, a man 
shall have leisure to quench them. Lo, here, in brief, the 
description of our fortress, which I named Caroline, in Fort Caroline 
honour of our prince. King Charles. 

. . . In the meanwhile, I was not able, with the 
same store of victuals which I had, so well to proportion 
out the travel upon the ships which we built to return 
into France ; but that, in the end, we were constrained to 
endui-e extreme famine, which continued among us all Famine 
the month of May ; for, in this latter season, neither 
maize, nor beans, nor mast, was to be found in the 
villages, because they had employed all for to sow their 
fields, insomuch that we were constrained to eat roots, 
which the most part of our men pounded in the mortars 
(which I had brought with us to beat gunpowder in), and 
the grain which came to us from other places. Some took 
the wood of esquine, beat it, and made meal thereof, 
which they boiled with water, and eat it ; others went, 
with their harquebuses, to seek to kill some fowl. Yea, 
this misery was so great, that one was found that gathered 
up, among the filth of my house, all the fish bones that he 
could find, which he dried and beat into powder, to make 
bread thereof. 

. . . I leave it to your cogitation to think how near 
it went to our hearts to leave a place abounding in riches 
(as we were thoroughly informed thereof), in coming 



104 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Sir Francis 
Drake 



whereunto, and doing service unto our Prince, we left 
our own country, wives, children, parents, and friends, 
and passed the perils of the sea, and were therein arrived, 
as in a plentiful treasure of all our hearts' desire. As 
each of us were much tormented in mind with these, or 
Sails Espied such like cogitations, the 3d of August, I descried foiu* 
sails in the sea as I walked upon a little hill, whereof I 
was exceeding well repaid. I sent, immediately, one of 
them which were with us, to advertise those of the fort, 
thereof, which were so glad of these news, that one would 
have thought them to be out of their wits, to see them 
laugh and leap for joy. 

. . . Captain Vasseur and my lieutenant, which 
were gone to meet them, which brought me word that 
they were Englishmen. . . . The general (Sir Francis 
Drake) immediately understood the desire and urgent 
occasion which I had to return into France, whereupon 
he offered to transport me and all my company home ; 
whereunto, notwithstanding, I would not agree, being in 
doubt on what occasion he made so large an offer ; for I 
knew not how the case stood between the French and the 
English ; and, although he promised me, on his faith to 
put me on land in France, before he would touch in 
England, yet I stood in doubt, lest he would attempt 
somewhat in Florida in the name of his mistress ; where- 
fore I flatly refused his offer. . . . 

As I was thus occupied in these conferences, the wind 
and the tide served well to set sail — which was the eighth 
and twentieth of August ; at which instant. Captain 
Yasseur, which commanded in one of my vessels, and 
Captain Verdier, which was chief in the other — now ready 
to go forth, began to descry certain sails at sea, whereof 
they advertised me with diligence. . . . 

Being, therefore, advertised that it was Captain 
Eibault, I went forth of the fort to meet him ; and, to do 
him all the honour I could by any means, I caused him 
to be welcomed by the artillery, and a gentle volley of 



Kibault's Ar- 
rival 



DISASTEOUS ATTEMPTS IN FLORIDA 105 

my shot, whereunto lie answered with his. Afterwards, 
being come on shore, and received honourably with joy, 
I brought him to my lodging, rejoicing not a little, because 
that, in his company I knew a good number of my friends, 
which I entreated, in the best sort that I was able, with 
such victuals as I could get in the country, and that small 
store which I had left me, with that which I had of the 
English general. . . . 

But, lo ! how oftentimes misfortune doth search and 
pursue us, even when we think to be at rest ! Lo ! see 
what happened after that Captain Ribault had brought 
up three of his small ships into the river, which was the 
4th of September. Six great Spanish ships arrived in the Spanish ships 
road, where four of our greatest ships remained, which 
cast anchor, assuring our men of good amity. They 
asked how the chief captains of the enterprise did, and 
called them all by their names. I report me to you if it 
could be otherwise ; but these men, before they went out 
of Spain, must needs be informed of the enterprise, and 
of those that were to execute the same. About the break 
of day, they began to make towards our men, but our 
men, which trusted them never a deal, had hoisted their 
sails by night, being ready to cut the strings that tied 
them ; wherefore, perceiving that this making towards 
our men of the Spaniards was not to do them any pleas- 
ure, and knowing well that their furniture was too small 
to make head against them, because that the most part of 
their men were on shore, they cut their cables, left their 
anchors, and set sail. . . . 

After he (Ribault) understood these news, he returned a Bad pian 
to the fortress, and came to my chamber, where I was 
sick ; and there, in the presence of several gentlemen, he 
propounded that it was necessary, for the King's service, 
to embark himself, with all his forces, and, with the three 
ships that were in the road, to seek the Spanish fleet; 
whereupon he asked our advice. . . . Then he told 
me that he could do no less than to continue this enter- 



106 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

prise ; and that in the letter which he had received from 
my Lord Admiral, there was a postscript, which he 
showed me, written in these words : ' ' Captain John 
Eibault, as I was enclosing of this letter, I received a 
certain advice, that Don Pedro Melendez departeth from 
Spain, to go to the coast of New France. See that you 
suffer him not to encroach upon you, no more than he 
would that you should encroach upon him." 

"You see," quoth he, "the charge that I have; and 
I leave it unto yourself to judge if you could do any less 
in this case, considering the certain advertisement that 
we have, that they are already on land, and will invade 
us." . . . 

The night between the 19th and 20th of September, 

La eigne kept watch with his company, wherein he used 

Taken by all eudeavouT, although it rained without ceasing. When 

Surprise ' ° ^ 

the day was, therefore, come, and that he saw that it still 
rained worse than it did before, he pitied the sentinels so 
moiled and wet, and thinking the Spaniards would not 
have come in such a strange time, he let them depart, 
and, to say the truth, he went himself unto his lodging. 
In the meanwhile, one which had something to do with- 
out the fort, and my trumpeter, which went up unto the 
rampart, perceived a troop of Spaniards which came 
down from a little knappe, where, incontinently, they 
began to cry alarm, and the trumpeter also, which, as 
soon as ever I understood, forthwith I issued out, with 
my target and sword in my hand, and got me into the 
midst of the court, where I began to cry upon my sol- 
diers. ... As I went to succour them which were 
defending the breach on the southwest side, I encountered, 
by chance, a great company of Spaniards, which had 
already repulsed our men, and were now entered, which 
drove me back unto the court of the fort . . . and, 
in the meanwhile, I saved myself by the breach, which 
was on the west side, near unto my lieutenant's lodging 
and gateway, into the woods, where I found certain of 



DISASTROUS ATTEMPTS IN FLORIDA 107 

my men, which were escaped, of which number there 
were three or lour which were sore hurt. . . . 

Being able to go no farther, by reason of my sickness 
which I had, I sent two of my men, which were with me, 
wliich could swim well, unto the ships, to advertise them 
of that which had happened, and to send them word to 
come and helj) me. . . . The 25th of September, we Escape to 
set sail to return into France. The indiiferent and un- 
passionate readers may easily weigh the truth of my 
doings, and be upright judges of the endeavour which I 
there used. For mine own part, I will not accuse, nor 
excuse any ; it sufficeth me to have followed the truth 
of the history, whereof many are able to bear witness, 
which were there present. I will plainly say one thing — 
that the long delay that Capt. John Ribault used in his 
embarking, and the fifteen days that he spent in roving 
along the coast of Florida before he came to our fort, 
were the cause of the loss we sustained ; for he discovered 
the coast on the 14th of August, and spent the time in 
going from river to river, which had been sufficient for 
him to have discharged his ships in, and for me to have 
embarked myself to have returned into France. I note 
well that all that he did was upon a good intent ; yet, in 
mine opinion, he should have had more regard unto his 
charge than to the devices of his own brain, which, some- 
times, he printed in his head so deeply, that it was very 
hard to put them out, which also turned to his utter 
undoing ; for he was no sooner departed from us but a 
tempest took him, which, in fine, wrecked him upon the 
coast, where all his ships were cast away ; and he, with 
much ado, escaped drowning, to fall into their hands, 
which cruelly massacred him and all his company. 

Ill 
To this graphic story something may be added from 
other sources. Once more the French proved that, while French not 
they make a most admirable element in a colony estab- 



108 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Bad Manage- 
ment 



The Spaniards 
Arrive 



Menendez the 
Butcher 



lished by others, they have not the peculiar qualifications 
requisite to successful colonizing when left to themselves. 
In this instance they invited the fate that overtook them. 
They had to depend upon themselves for food supplies, 
yet neglected to cultivate the soU, fell to quarrelling, 
treated the natives unwisely, and proved generally unfit 
for their undertaking, difficult at best. Laudonniere was 
weak as leader ; the young nobles who had crossed the 
ocean to find gold could not stoop to work, and grumbled 
at being required to do their part in the work of fortifi- 
cation. The Protestants had no pastor, and complained 
that Laudonniere was indifferent to religion. Then came 
famine, owing to the failure to raise crops. The second 
summer found scarcity at La Caroline, although the river 
teemed with fish. Laudonniere at last decided to return 
to Europe and give up his attempt. The one ship usable 
was put in repair and the French were making ready to 
depart when the English fleet appeared. The captain 
was friendly, relieved their necessities, and offered to 
transport them to France. Unhappily that was declined, 
but a ship was bought from the English. Soon another 
fleet appeared, commanded by Eibault, who had been 
sent to supersede Laudonniere. His fleet comprised 
seven ships and carried not far from a thousand men, 
including a number of Huguenot gentlemen. At least 
one minister was in the company, M. Eobert. Lau- 
donniere was able to clear himself from the charges laid 
against him, and was cordially treated by his old-time 
commander. 

The end drew near. Five days after Eibault' s arrival 
a third fleet came in sight. It was the Spaniards. 
Eibault' s larger ships had fled. Spain denied the right 
of France in the new world, and especially the right of 
French Protestants to live anywhere. The King of Spain 
had sent Menendez, one of his bravest and crudest cap- 
tains, to dislodge the French colony. With a fleet of 
fifteen ships and two thousand six hundred men, Spanish 



DISASTEOUS ATTEMPTS IN FLOEIDA 109 

aud Portuguese, Menendez attacked the body of less than 
half his numbers and little prepared to resist. Lau- 
douniere's plan was to strengthen the fort, secure the 
help of the friendly Indians, and harass the Spanish, who 
had landed thirty miles south on the coast. Eibault alone 
insisted upon a naval engagement, and as he was in com- 
mand, his will was law. Euin resulted. A storm wrecked 
Ribault's ships, and left Menendez free for his work of 
butchery. He surprised Fort Caroline, put all to the 
sword save the women and childi-en, and returned to his 
landing-place. Laudonniere, the minister Eobert, and a 
few others fled, reached the coast and one of the smaller 
ships which Eibault had left in the river, and finally 
reached France. Eibault, meanwhile, with his ship- 
wrecked followers, made their way to La Caroline only 
to find the Spanish there ; and a little later Eibault at- 
tempted to treat with Menendez, who would give no 
assurance beyond saying : '■ ' Yield yourselves to my 
mercy, give up your arms and your colours, and I will 
do as God may prompt me." Two hundred of Eibault's 
men refused to accept these terms and fled into the wil- 
derness. The others, one hundred aud fifty in number, Horrible 
threw themselves upon the compassion of a man who 
knew none for Protestants. Though Spain was at peace 
with France, as Eibault reminded Menendez, the answer 
was, "Not so in the case of heretics." Thus did this 
inhuman monster, sacrilegiously using the name of God, 
announce his action to his government. '^I had their 
hands tied behind their backs, and themselves put to the 
sword. It appeared to me that by thus chastising them, 
God our Lord and your Majesty were served. Whereby 
this evil sect will in future leave us more free to plant the 
gospel in these parts." 

Those who refused to surrender were pursued by 
Menendez, but after strong resistance were promised 
treatment as prisoners of war, and were finally sent to 
the galleys by the Spanish king. Thus came to its 



110 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



DeGourges' 
Revenge 



dreadful end Coligny's last hope to found a Protestant 
colony in America. On the spot of the La Caroline 
massacre Meneudez placed a tablet bearing this inscrip- 
A Fatal Tablet tion : " Hung not as Frenchmen, but as Lutheran." 

Two years later, Dominique de Gourges, a gallant 
French of&cer, determined to avenge this slaughter of 
his countrymen, though he was not a Huguenot. The 
brutality of the Spaniards had aroused great indignation 
in France, yet the court remonstrances had not succeeded 
in obtaining any redress from the Spanish King. 
Hence de Gourgues took vengeance into his own hands. 
Selling his patrimony, with his brothers' help he fitted 
out three small vessels, and after a perilous voyage he 
reached the Florida coast, enlisted the service of the 
friendly Indians, and falling upon La Caroline, took prison- 
ers the Spanish forces left to garrison it. Then he put 
most of them to the sword, and hung the remainder upon 
the trees from which Menendez had hung his French 
prisoners ; and upon the other side of the tablet which 
the Spaniard had placed near by, he inscribed these 
words: "I do this not as unto Spaniards, nor as unto 
seamen, but as unto traitors, robbers, and murderers." It 
was a pity that Menendez himself could not have re- 
ceived the punishment he so richly merited. 

It should be said, in closing this dreary record, that 
the French in their short residence had made a deep im- 
pression upon the Indians, whom they treated in a man- 
ner quite unlike that of the Spaniards and Portuguese. 
Their habitual gayety and good nature and kindliness 
attracted the natives, and the singing of the Huguenots, 
who were like Cromwell's men great and sonorous singers 
of hymns, printed itself upon the Indian memory, so that 
long afterwards the European cruising along the coast 
w^ould be saluted, says Baird, with some snatch of a 
French psalm, uncouthly rendered by Indian voices, in 
strains caught from the Calvinist soldier on patrol. No 
fierce imprecation or profane expletive lingered in the 



French 
Influence 
Upon the 
Natives 



DISASTROUS ATTEMPTS IN FLORIDA 111 

recollection of the red men, as the synonym for the 
French Protestant. Moreover, the Genevan students on 
the second expedition had succeeded in reaching a num- 
ber of the Indian tribes with the truth, and obtained 
promises from many that they would stop their cannibal- 
ism, practiced upon their enemies. 




LE MOINES SKETCH OF THE BUILDING OF FORT CAROLINS 



CHAPTER III 
THE HUGUENOT COLOifY IN CANADA 



High Aim of IP "^ ENRY IV entered heartily into the colonization 

King Henry IV ■ ■ •' 



H 



plans of his great minister, Admiral Coligny, 
and after the Edict of Nantes had brought peace 
to France, this monarch undertook to realize his am- 
bitious plans to build up a powerful navy, promote 
exploration and trade with distant parts, and carry out 
Coligny' s scheme to establish a French colony in 
America. The honour belongs to this enlightened king, 
who strove to deal fairly with all his subjects and to pro- 
tect the Protestants in their rights, of founding the first 
agricultural colony on our continent, and of basing it, 
moreover, upon the principles of religious liberty and 
equality. 

To understand the character of this new movement of 
colonization and of those who engaged in it, it is neces- 
sary briefly to review the religious history of the western 
seacoast provinces of France. The fisher-folk and sailors 
of Normandy, Brittany, Saintonge, and the islands along 
the coast, were of the hardy sort of which explorers are 
French made. From the year 1504 these seamen had crossed to 

Fishermen ^ 

the banks of Newfoundland and rivalled the English and 
Spaniards in discovery, fishing, and commercial enter- 
prise. Many of these men were Protestant, and many 
of the ships engaged in these voyages were owned by 
Huguenot merchants, and manned by Huguenot sailors, 
who persisted in singing lustily Clement Marot's version 
of the Psalms, to the scandal of the Roman Catholics 
who heard them. It was as early as 1534 that Protestant- 
ism made its way into the seaboard provinces, through 

112 



THE HUGUENOT COLONY IN CANADA 113 

the preaching of two of Calvin's most zealous and fiery- 
disciples. The spread of the new doctrines was rapid, 
as the simpler religion appealed to the common people. 
A strange thing happened which aided in this quick |a[vrnism on 
growth of the Protestant movement. A number of monks *^^ seaboard 
in central France, hearing of Luther, left their monas- 
teries and crossed into Germany to learn directly from 
the Reformer himself. As a result, they retui-ned to 
France and began to preach against Eome in the same 
vein that Luther did in Germany. They were soon 
compelled to hide, and a number of them found refuge 
in Saintonge, among the seamen. The persecution that 
brought several of these reformed monks to the stake 
did not check the belief of the people in their doctrines, 
and again the blood of the martyrs became the seed of 
the church. By 1550 a large proportion of the people 
of this province had become Protestants, and La 
Rochelle, the capital town of the province, was the 
stronghold of Protestantism. To show how thorough 
the change was, it is said that when the Edict of Nantes 
was proclaimed in 1598 the Roman mass had not been 
said openly at La Rochelle for nearly forty years, while 
in many other Huguenot towns the Roman Catholic wor- 
ship had practically disappeared, so predominantly 
Protestant were the people. 

It was a Protestant population, therefore, that wel- co°onists* 
comed the colonization idea, not only for commercial 
reasons, but because experience had taught them how 
insecure they were in France. Even the new Edict of 
Henry could not guarantee continued possession of their 
religious liberties. The edict had inflamed the Roman 
Catholics, and it was plain that persecution would again 
break out the moment opportunity could be found. The 
day foreseen by the wise Coligny might dawn on any 
morrow, when the Protestants of France would need a 
place of refuge for themselves and their children. 



114 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Sieur 

de Monts' 

Expedition 



LaCadie 



Missionary 
Zeal and Re- 
ligious 
Liberty 



n 

Hence it was that when, November 8, 1603, Pierre de 
Monts, a Huguenot gentleman of Saintonge, received a 
royal commission authorizing him to possess and settle 
that part of North America embracing what is now Nova 
Scotia, New Brunswick and Canada, and granting him a 
trade monopoly for ten years, this brave Protestant 
leader and good man found no difficulty in securing 
Protestant followers. He had himself accompanied 
Chauvin on his first visit to the St. Lawrence, and 
thinking that region too severe in temperature had de- 
cided on a more southerly region for his colony. Nova 
Scotia was his choice. The name La Cadie had then been 
given to this fertile country by the French discoverer 
Cartier, and thus the Acadia of poetic legend came to be 
known. The royal grant emphasized the King's firm 
resolution "with the help and assistance of God, who is 
the author, distributor, and protector of all kingdoms and 
states, to seek the conversion, guidance and instruction 
of the races that inhabit that country, from their 
barbarous and godless condition, without faith or re- 
ligion, to Christianity and the belief and profession of 
our faith and religion, and to rescue them from the 
ignorance and unbelief in which they now lie." Thus 
the purpose was declared to be spiritual as well as secular ; 
and the Sieur de Monts was appointed the King's lieu- 
tenant-general with powers to " subject all the peoples of 
this country and of the surrounding parts to our au- 
thority ; and by all lawful means to lead them to the 
knowledge of God and to the light of the Christian faith 
and religion, and to establish them therein." But there 
was one great difference between this missionary purpose 
and that of the ordinary Eoman Catholic ruler. It was 
decreed that religious liberty should prevail in the new 
colony, and that all the colonists were to be maintained 
and protected in the exercise and profession of the Chris- 
tian faith, and in peace, repose and tranquility. Calvinist 



THE HUGUENOT COLONY IN CANADA 115 

and Komanist were to be safe to follow their own con- 
sciences without molestation from the other. De Monts 
was well fitted for leadership. He was a valiant soldier, 
who had won the entire confidence of his sovereign, and 
was a man of highest integrity and patriotism, as well as 
of exemplary piety. By the testimony of his contem- 
poraries, he was thoroughly qualified by his courage, 
energy, perseverance, tact and firmness, to found New 
France in America, and represented the commanding 
qualities of the Huguenot gentleman. 

With two ships he sailed from Havre in March, 1604, Port Royai 
taking about one hundred and twenty persons. High 
and low birth, Protestants and Catholics, with a Protestant 
minister and a Roman Catholic priest to look after the 
spiritual interests, made up the company, which was de- 
cidedly superior in character to most of those that had 
previously gone forth in search of adventure. Two of 
de Monts' former comrades, gentlemen of fortune and 
rank — Samuel de Champlain and Baron de Poutrincourt, 
accompanied him. Proceeding to the Bay of Fundy, 
passing through the narrow channel into the beautiful 
basin now known as Annapolis Harbour, de Monts 
named the basin Port Eoyal, and here de Poutrincourt 
decided to found a settlement and bring families from 
France to develop his grant. No more favourable place 
could have been found for the purpose. De Monts fixed 
upon a small island at the mouth of the St. Croix for his 
own colony — a site as poor as Port Eoyal was good ; and 
after .trying the hard experiences of a winter he saw his 
mistake and decided to unites forces at Port Eoyal. Only 
forty of seventy-nine of his company survived, owing to 
sickness at St. Croix, and among those who died were the 
priest and the minister, so that no religious teacher was 
left. In this emergency, Marc Lescarbot, a Protestant 
lawyer and writer, became teacher and preacher, "in 
order that we might not live like the beasts, " as he tells 
us in his most interesting "History of New France," 



116 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

" and that we might afford the savages an example of our 
way of living." It is worthy of mention that Baron de 
Poutrincourt, while nominally a Eoman Catholic, was 
apparently in full sympathy with his Protestant asso- 
ciates, and was an open enemy of the Jesuits. Lescarbot 
was not only teacher of his countrymen, but reached a 
number of the natives, for whose conversion the Hugue- 
nots of La Eochelle daily prayed. 



Trade Grant 
Withdrawn 



Quebec 1608 



in 

France seemed destined to defeat in the new world. If 
religious troubles did not bring disaster, commercial 
rivalries did. De Monts was just getting his new colony 
in prosperous condition, when in 1607 his trade monopoly 
was withdrawn at the instance of merchants of Brittany, 
who learned with indignation that a rival threatened their 
traffic along the American coast, and that exclusive rights 
had been granted which shut them out from the fisheries 
and fui' trade. The withdrawal of his exclusive rights 
crippled de Monts in his plans and led to the abandon- 
ment of Port Eoyal. Already a small palisaded fort had 
been built, besides a mill, storehouses and dwellings, and 
friendly relations had been formed with the Indians. 
De Poutrincourt held his grant to the site, and took 
possession of it again, but the chance for a strong colony 
was lost. 

De Monts now made another attempt, selecting the 
interior for his new venture. For this purpose he ob- 
tained a renewal of his trade monopoly for a single year, 
and taking Champlain with him, made his way up the 
St. Lawrence with two vessels, one equipped for the 
expedition, the other for the fur traffic which was to 
bring the needed funds. In the summer of 1608, Cham- 
plain, under de Monts' authority, landed on the site of 
Quebec, and established a trading-post at that strategic 
point. De Monts now took in with him the rivals who 
had formerly broken in upon his monopoly, and pros- 



THE HUGUENOT COLONY IN CANADA 117 

perity attended his venture. Many merchants of La 
Eochelle actively engaged in the profitable trade. 

Eeligious liberty had not as yet been interfered with, 
and though there were serious discussions between the 
Eomauists and Calvinists, the friendly intercourse pre- 
vailed in the main so long as de Monts was in control. 
Presently, however, Champlain, who was a Eoman Cath- 
olic, was appointed governor of the colony, and the re- 
ligious contentions gave him much trouble. The Calvin- 
ists remained true to their faith, and on most of the 5«''ff??"s 

' Troubles 

'^ company's vessels the crews were assembled daily for 
prayers, after the manner of Geneva ; and even good 
Catholics, it was complained, were required by the 
Huguenot captains to join in the psalmody which formed 
so important a part of the Protestant worship." But now 
came the terrible blow to the Protestants in France. 
Tolerant and sympathetic King Henry IV fell under the 
assassin's knife, and it was plain that no longer would the 
Huguenots enjoy their freedom of worship. De Monts 
gave up his hopes and plans, and surrendered his com- 
mission as viceroy of New France to the Prince of Conde, 
who had been a Huguenot leader, but was now engaged 
in politics rather than religion, using the latter as a po- 
litical weapon. The proprietary rights which had be- 
longed to de Monts passed, by the irony of fate, into the 
hands of the Jesuits, most inveterate and implacable of 
foes to the Protestant faith. One of the romances of his- peMonts 

Loses Canada 

tory stranger than fiction is to be found in the passing of 
the title to half a continent from Protestant to Eoman 
Catholic hands, through the missionary zeal of a French 
noblewoman controlled by the Jesuits on the one hand, Jesuits in Con- 
and the financial needs of the noble de Monts, who had 
become governor of a Huguenot town and wanted to de- 
fend it against time of persecution, on the other. Thus 
began the Jesuit missions in North America under fa- 
vourable auspices, and thus sounded the death -knell of a 
Protestant New France in North America. 



118 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



France 
Loses North 
America as a 
Result 



Shutting Out 
Protestants 



IV 

To the Jesuits, those fomenters of wars and mischief in 
every country where they have been permitted to live, 
France owes it that North America was lost to her. The 
first thing the Jesuits aimed at was to get control of 
Acadia and Canada, and banish every heretic from the 
new world, then prevent any more from coming. In that 
simple way New France was to be kept Roman Catholic, 
and free from religious troubles such as had long dis- 
tracted France and Germany and other nations. By the 
formation of a new company, the Company of New 
France, in which no Huguenot had place, and by the 
taking away of its charter from the former company, at 
the head of which was a Huguenot, the transformation 
was accomplished after a few years. Complaints of the 
singing of the Huguenots on shipboard brought orders 
prohibiting the singing of hymns, which was peculiarly 
distasteful to the Jesuits, of whom it was said, * ' They do 
not sing ; birds of prey never do." Champlain, as gov- 
ernor of Quebec, tried to enforce the orders against sing- 
ing and public saying of prayers, but says : "At last it 
was agreed that they might meet to pray, but should not 
sing psalms. A bad bargain, yet it was the best we 
could do." 

It was not long, however, before the Jesuits had grown 
strong enough to stop even the arrival of the singing 
Protestants. Under the policy of Cardinal Richelieu, 
who was as zealous a Roman Catholic as he was energetic 
and unscrupulous a minister of Louis XIII, every emi- 
grant who went out under the Company of New France, 
must first profess the Roman Catholic faith. This was in 
the line of Richelieu's plan to crush out Protestantism in 
France also, and was regai'ded as a master stroke of 
policy. What it accomplished was to hand over North 
America to England, and to pave the way in France for 
the awful days of Red Revolution and a descending scale 
of power and influence among the world powers. 



THE HUGUEi^OT COLONY IN CANADA 119 

V 

It was oue of the reprisals of justice, one of the right- 
eous punishments of religious usurpation, that when the SirWiiiiam 

^ ° -^ ' Alexander 

English king determined to contest the claim to North claims Nova 
America by right of discovery, Sir William Alexander, 
who had a royal grant to Nova Scotia, found the best 
material for his expedition of conquest in the large num- 
bers of Huguenot seamen and soldiers who had found 
refuge in England from the renewed persecutions at home, 
and were only too glad to engage in war against the 
Jesuits, even though they were French. Hence we find 
that the admiral who had charge of Sir Alexander's 
squadron, fitted out for the conquest of New France, was 
David Kirke, while his brothers were his assistants — all 
natives of Dieppe in Normandy, and staunch Protestants Helped by 
who had fled from their country rather than deny their "^ueno s 
faith. The sailing master, Jacques Michel, was an ardent 
Calvinist, who had been in the employ of Guillaume de 
Caen when that strong Huguenot leader was at the head 
of the former Canadian Company organized by de Monts. 
Acadia was an easy prey to these bold invaders, and 
Kirke then turned his attention to Quebec, and on July 
20, 1629, that stronghold, under Champlain, was obliged 
to sm^ender. And now the Jesuit fathers who had lately 
come to occupy the mission field which they proposed to 
hold forever shut against heretics, were prisoners in the 
hands of the very heretics whose destruction at home and 
abroad they had planned. 

That Quebec again passed into French possession, be- 
cause peace had been signed between England and France 
three mouths before Quebec was captured, was a fortune 
of war ; but during the three years of negotiations a 
Huguenot, Louis Kirk, was in command, and won the 
confidence and respect of all by his admirable and toler- 
ant conduct. His English name came from the fact that 
his father was a Scotchman who lived and married in Louis Kirk at 
France. He tried to induce the French families to re- 



120 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



1633, Canada 

Roman 

Catholic 



France's 

Stupendous 

Blunder 



main in Quebec, and permitted them their religious lib- 
erty — an example which the Jesuit fathers, whom he per- 
mitted to say mass, never reciprocated when they were in 
power. It is significant, also, that it was a Huguenot, 
Emery de Caen, who was made the agent of France to re- 
ceive back her American province. The ti'uth seems to 
be that the Huguenots were men of such ability and trust- 
worthiness that they were chosen when public service de- 
manding highest integrity and capacity was to be ren- 
dered. We are constantly reminded of the fact that 
France lost her best blood when her Protestant subjects 
were massacred or exiled. They were the people who 
had convictions and courage, capacity and character such 
as make nations powerful and influential. And while 
New France was to cease to exist, the best of Old France 
was to enter into the making of the New World. The 
religious bigotry and crime and folly of the leaders of one 
nation, inspired by a hierarchy as pitiless as it has ever 
been shortsighted and grasping, were to contribute ele- 
ments of inestimable value to other nations, particularly 
to that new one that was destined to be the wonder of 
them all. 

May 23, 1633, was a decisive day for New France. On 
that day Champlain, again appointed governor, received 
the keys of the fort of Quebec from the Huguenot de Caen, 
and from that hour Canada was closed to the Huguenot as 
a colonist. None but Roman Catholic Frenchmen could 
acquire permanent residence. Dr. Baird is undoubtedly 
right when he says : ' ' In this prohibition, religious in- 
tolerance pronounced the doom of the French colonial 
system in America. The exclusion of the Huguenots 
from New France was one of the most stupendous blunders 
that history records. The repressive policy pursued by 
the French government for the next fifty years, culminat- 
ing in the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, tended more 
and more to awaken and to strengthen among the Protes- 
tants a disposition to emigrate to foreign lands. Industri- 



THE HUGUENOT COLONY IN CANADA 121 

ous and thrifty, ready for any sacrifice to enjoy the liberty 
of conscience denied them at home, they would have 
rejoiced to build up a French state in the New World. 
No other desirable chiss of the population of France was 
inclined for immigration. It was with great difiBculty 
that from time to time the feeble colony could be recruited, 
at vast expense, and with inferior material. Meanwhile, 
hundreds of thousands of expatriat-ed Huguenots carried 
into Protestant countries of Northern Europe, and into the 
British colonies of North America, the capital, the indus- 
trial skill, the intelligence, the moral worth, that might 
have enriched the French possessions, and secured to the 
Gallic race a vast domain upon the North American 
continent." 




BOOK THREE 

THE FRENCH PROTESTANTS IN 
AMERICA 



PART ONE 
NEW ENGLAND 



CHAPTER I 
THE FIRST COMERS 

I 

N the list of passengers on the good ship Mayflower The May- 



flower, 1620 



I may be seen the names of a family called "MuUins," 
consisting of father and mother and two children : a 
son named Joseph and a daughter named Priscilla. But 
while the name William Mullins is thoroughly English, 
investigation proves that the man so called was not Eng- 
lish at all. When the little ship Speedwell put out from 
Delfthaven in Holland to meet the Mayflower at South- 
ampton, among the Pilgrims there was a Huguenot family, 
the father's name being Guillaume Molines. Already in TheMoimes 
the Old World, in that haven of Holland, the English and 
French refugees, sufferers alike for their religion, had 
clasped hands of kinship ; and in the first company that 
made home in the New World the Huguenots were 
represented, although the habit of corrupting names 
tended to conceal the fact. In that first awful year of 
starvation and sufiering that followed the coming of the 
Pilgrims to the Massachusetts coast, Guillaume Molines, 
his wife, and the son perished. But Priscilla survived, 
and by her marriage with John Alden became the ances- 
tress of that celebrated New England family, the Aldens. pHsciUa a 
From this descent, too, was John Adams, second Presi- **"e"e"o* 
dent of the United States. More than this, Longfellow's 
poem has enshrined this French girl in the affections of 

125 



126 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



French Traits 



John Alden 
French 



New England as the typical Puritan maiden ; and so com- 
pletely is she identified in thought and imagination with 
the story of the Pilgrims, that in spite of the record of 
history it is probable that the picture of John Alden and 
his fair young bride will remain the popular representa- 
tion of the peculiarly English ancestors of New England. 

And yet, as a recent writer suggests, it has always been 
a source of wonder that an English girl could have had 
the ready wit to give John Alden '' the tip" that released 
him from his ambiguous wooing and herself from the 
domination of the fierce little captain. ' ' How blind we 
were to the Gallic coquetry with which she held on to 
Miles till she had secured John ! She was a worthy pro- 
genitor of the Yankee girl in her ability to take care of 
herself. We must blot out, then, from the historic j)ortrait 
the blue eyes and rosy cheeks of the English maiden whom 
our fancy has called up whenever we have thought of 
Priscilla ; and we must paint in a slender, graceful, black - 
haired brunette, with brown-black velvet eyes and long 
sweeping lashes, from under which were shot such glances 
as melted the hearts of all the colony ; and we must adorn the 
Puritan garb with some dainty ribbon." We can at once 
see how this different feminine element would exert its 
powerful influence, and how Priscilla would be a marked 
character. 

A still greater shock will be given to tradition and 
family pride when it is said, fiu'ther, that there are very 
good grounds for believing that John Alden himself had 
Huguenot blood in his veins. Let this case be stated by 
Julien, author of Tales of Old Boston, who made it a mat- 
ter of careful research, and thought the evidence rather 
strongly in favour of a Huguenot origin. The Alden 
genealogies, he says, state vaguely that the name of Alden 
is not found in England, or mention a certain Mr. Alden 
of St. John's College, who is referred to as "one who 
suffered by the tyramiical Bartholomew act" — which 
suggests that it was a French refugee of 1572 who was 



THE FIEST COMEES 127 

the ancestor of this family. There is mention also of a 
"John Alden of the Middle Temple," to whom a coat of 
arms was assigned in 1607. Now the John Alden of the ^iden Pedi- 

o gree 

Mayflower, it will be remembered, was a cooper, whom the 
Pilgrims met at Southampton, just before their departure 
for America, and whom they induced to join their com- 
pany with the understanding that he should be free to 
remain, or return to England as he pleased. I find in the 
list of persons, mostly Huguenots naturalized by royal 
letters patent and recorded at Westminster for the 5th of 
March, 1691, the name of Anne Alden, with those of her 
son-in-law Jean Biancard and Mary, his daughter. And 
there is a still more significant record of the granting of 
naturalization in 1575 — that is, three years after the 
massacre of St. Bartholomew — to "Susan and Sarah 
Alden, daughters of John Alden of London, grocer, and 
Barbara, daughter of Jacques du Prier, his wife." In 
these records we have sufficient evidence at least to surmise 
that the John Alden of the Mayflower, as well as his wife 
Priscilla, was of direct Huguenot origin. Everybody is 
familiar with Millais' beautiful picture of the " Huguenot 
Lovers" of the period of the St. Bartholomew massacre. 
It would be a curious continuation of the story which that 
picture suggests if it should have a New World companion 
piece in the New England lovers of 1620, who on the 
white sand and amid the tangled sea grasses of Plymouth 
beach, vowed fealty to each other. 

II 
The case of Priscilla Molines is more or less typical of changes in 
the record of other Huguenot emigrants. Her name was 
distorted into the uneuphonious appellation of Mullins, 
and her identity was swallowed up in all its superficial 
aspects by the outward characteristics of her alien neigh- 
bours. It is easy to account for the changes which took 
place in the French names : even common English names 
of that period were spelled in a great variety of ways, ac- 



128 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Loss of 
Identity 



Quick As- 
similation of 
the French 



Phillip de la 
Noye 



Teuton's Peti- 
tion 



cording to the whim or degree of learning of the user, and 
so it is not to be wondered at that the strange and unfa- 
miliar names of the French emigrants should have been 
mangled almost out of all resemblance to the originals. 
We shall find this to be the case over and over again. 
And while the Huguenots did not lose the essential traits 
of character which are the pride of their descendants, 
they were very adaptable, and soon learned to conform to 
the outward customs of the people among whom they found 
themselves. They entered into the spirit of the civili- 
zation by which they were sui^rounded and thoroughly 
identified themselves with it. For these reasons it is 
often extremely difficult to separate their history from the 
history of the country at large, just as in the present in- 
stance it would be an almost impossible task to convince 
the general public that Priscilla Mullins, the flower of 
early Puritan civilization, was in reality a daughter of 
France. 

A year after the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth 
Eock another Huguenot joined his fortunes to those of the 
infant state. This was Phillip de la Noye, who came over 
in the ship Fortune. Like so many other French emi- 
grants who came to America, la Noye was born in Hol- 
land, where his parents had taken refuge, and had there 
made his acquaintance with the Puritans. Fate was 
kinder to him than it had been to Guillaume Molines, and 
he was enabled to gain a strong foothold in the colony. 
His descendants, whose name became anglicized into 
Delano, are numerous in the region where their ancestors 
landed, and are to be met with in the West as well as in 
New England. The late Eev. H. A. Delano, a Baptist 
minister of marked gifts as a preacher, was an honoured 
member of this family. 

Ill 

In the year 1662, Jean Touton, "of Eotchell in France, 
Doctor Chirurgion," forwarded a petition to the "Magis- 



THE FIEST COMERS 129 

trates of the Massachusetts Colonic" on behalf of himself 
and other persecuted citizens of that town. The petition- s^^'^l"^*' 
ers stated that they "are for their religion sake, outed 
and expelled from their habitations and dwellings in 
Rotchell," and humbly crave the "liberty to come heather, 
here to inhabit and abide amongst the English in this 
Jurisdiction, and to follow such honest endeavours & 
ymploymts, as providence hath or shall direct them unto, 
whereby they may get a livelihood, and that they might 
have so much favour from the Govmt here, as iu some 
measure to be certayne of their residence here before they 
undertake the voyage, and what privileges they may 
expect here to have, that so accordingly as they find 
incoridgmt for further progress herein, they may dispose 
of their estates of Eotchell, where they may not have any 
longer continuance." In October of that year the Gen- October 1662 
eral Court of Massachusetts granted the petitioners the 
right to take up their residence in the Colony, but how 
many took advantage of the opportunity it is quite impos- 
sible to tell. A list of the petitioners was forwarded with 
the petition itself, but unfortunately it was destroyed. 
Doubtless several of them found their way to Boston, for 
we have evidence that Jean Touton himself arrived iu 
Massachusetts dui-ing the very year of the petition. In 
1687 we find him again addressing the General Court, de- 
claring that he had ' ' ever since the year 1662 been an 
Inhabitant in the Territory of his Majesty." 

Philip English, who was baptized Phillip L'Anglois, 
came to Salem, Massachusetts, in or about the year 1670. saiem 1670 
He was a high-spirit^ed man and possessed of a great store 
of energy, and he at once made a place for himself in the 
affairs of that thriving seaport. He built up a large trade 
with France, Spain and the West Indies, and soon came 
to be recognized as one of the most prosperous merchants 
of Salem. At one time, when at the height of his good 
fortune, he was credited with owning fourteen buildings phiiip English 
iu the town, a commodious warehouse and wharf, to say 



130 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

nothiug of the twenty -one vessels which brought in 
splendid profits under his skillful management. Eng- 
lish had made his way to Salem from the Island of Jersey, 
and he was instrumental in bringing over a number of 
his compatriots who had taken refuge there. There is no 
complete record of their names, but we know that among 
those who came to Salem were John Touzell, John 
Browne (Jean Le Brun), Nicholas Chevalier, Peter 
Morall, Edward Feveryear, John Voudin, Eachel Delia- 
close, the Valpy family, the Lefavors and the Cabots. 

IV 

Revocation But it was uot uutil the Eevocation of the Edict of 

1685 

Nantes crushed all hope of religious toleration in France 

and rendered the lives of Protestants unsafe, that the 
Huguenots began to flock to New England in any consid- 
erable numbers. In the very month of the Eevocation 
their eyes were turned longingly towards the new world 
that promised them an asylum from their persecutions 
and an opportunity to enjoy that liberty of conscience for 
which they had so manfully struggled during a period of 
over a century and a half. On October 1, 1685, a letter 
was sent from La Eochelle to some unknown correspond- 
ent in Boston ; it expressed the condition of the Eochel- 
lese and the faith they had in New England as a place of 
refuge, as the following extract will show : 

Letter from God erant that I and my family were with you, we should uot have 

Rochelle , ^, ,„.„ . ,...., j,-. 

been exposed to the rune of our enemies, who rob us of the goods wnicn 

God hath given us to the subsistence of our soule and body. I shall 
not assume to write all the miseries that we suffer, which cannot be 
comprehended in a letter, but in many books. I shall tell you briefly, 
that our temple is condemned, and razed, our ministers banished for- 
ever, all their goods confiscated, and moreover they are condemned to 
the fine of a thousand crowns. All t'other temples are also razed, ex- 
cepted the temple of Re, and two or three others. By act of Parlia- 
ment we are hindered to be masters in any trade or skill. We expect 
every days the lord governour or Guiene, whom shall put soldiers in 



THE FIEST COMEES 131 

our houses, and take away our children to be offered to the Idol, as 
they have done in t'other countrys. 

The country where you live (that is to say New England) is in great 
estinie ; I and a grat many others, Protestants, intend to go there. A Haven 
Tell us, if you please, what advantage we can have there, and particu- 
larly the boors who are accoustumed to plow the ground. If somebody 
of your countiy would hazard to come here with a ship to fetch in our 
French Protestants, he would make great gain. 

Five years previous, in 1680, some commissioners dele- 
gated by the Protestants of La Eochelle had visited Boston 
and gained permission for a number of their countrymen 
to settle in Massachusetts. But the projected emigration 
was given up, though two years later twelve persons did 
find their way to Boston, coming by way of London. 
They were ;6lie Charron, Frangois Basset, Marie Tissau Boston 
Par6 and her three daughters, and a widow named ^^^spitahty 
Guerry, with her two sons, her son-in-law and two small 
children. This little company was very hospitably re- 
ceived by the good people of Boston. They were in abso- 
lute poverty ; so great was their destitution, and so sym- 
pathetic were the people for the sufferings which they had 
undergone for conscience' sake, that the governor and coun- 
cil recommended that on a certain day all the churches 
of the neighbourhood should take up a collection to relieve 
their distress, referring to them as ' ' these Christian suf- 
ferers." At such a welcome these forlorn pilgrims must 
have indeed thought that they had at last reached the 
Promised Land, and it was probably the news of their 
kindly reception which caused the Eochellese to look with 
such yearning eyes towards Boston and Massachusetts. 

V 
Nor had they any cause to be disappointed when, in 
1686, a company of them reached the colony. The first Free citizen- 

,-. f . ship Granted 

snip arrived in July of that year, coming by way of St. 
Christopher's. In granting their application for admis- 
sion to the colony, the council passed an order including 



132 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

other French Protestants within its scope as follows : ' ' Or- 
dered, That upon the taking the oath of allegiance before 
the president, and under his hand and seal of his Majtys 
Territory and Dominion, they be allowed to reside and 
dwell in his Majtys sd dominion, and to proceed from 
hence and return hither as freely as any other of his 
Majtys subjects, and this to be an order for all such 
French Protestants that shall or may come into this his 
Majtys Territory and Dominion." By this generous 
action of the council, Massachusetts put herself on record 
as being ready and eager to furnish a home for all those who 
truly desired to dwell in liberty of conscience. And we 
can only add that she was amply repaid for her liberality 
by the high character and loyalty of the French refugees 
whom she sheltered. Bowdoin, Faneuil and Revere, are 
names that she could ill afford to have stricken from her 
annals. 
Christian lu August the sccoud party of emigrants arrived. They 

^^"^"^ had suffered much from the long voyage and had lost 

their doctor and twelve of their fellows through sickness 
on the way over. The survivors who landed in Boston 
were wasted by sickness and were almost wholly destitute 
of property. Their sad plight did not escape the vigilance 
of the ever watchful and solicitous council, which pre- 
pared a statement of the needs of the Huguenots and 
caused it to be read in all the churches of the colony. 
This paper represented them as "objects of a true Chris- 
tian charity," exhorted the i^eople to give liberally in so 
good a cause, and asked the ministers to "put forward 
the people in their charity." Captain Elisha Hutchin- 
son and Captain Samuel Sewall, two of the leading citi- 
zens of Boston, took charge of receiving and distributing 
the relief fund, and everything was done to provide for 
the fugitives' comfort and welfare. We are told in the 
brief prepared by the council that this stricken company 
consisted of "fifteen French familyes with a religious 



THE FIRST COMERS 



133 



Protestaut minister, who are in all, men, women and chil- 
di-en, more than fourscore soules." 

The third party, "crowded into a small ship," reached 
Salem in September of that same year. The same kind- 
ness that had been shown the others was dealt out to 
them, and a large house (even down to the middle of the 
nineteenth century known as the "French House") was 
set apart for their use. Philip English, by this time well 
on the road to prosperity, was unremitting in his efforts 
to alleviate the misery of his countrymen, and his gen- 
erosity was unbounded. Not for long, however, did these 
devoted emigrants stand in need of assistance. They had 
brought little property with them, but they were rich in 
thrift, perseverance, and industry, and they were soon 
able to take care of themselves and lend a helping hand 
to later arrivals. 



A French 
House in 
Salem 




CHAPTEE II 
THE OXFOED SETTLEI^IENT 



Bernonthe A WEALTHY refugee from La Eochelle, Gabriel 

Founder '* " ' 



A 



Bernon, who reached Loudon iu 1697, was the 
. prime mover iu the French settlement of Oxford, 
Massachusetts. He had for some time contemplated go- 
ing to America, and his design was stimulated by the 
offer of a grant of land on condition that he should form 
a settlement thereon. Bernon chose for his agent a refugee 
from Poitiers, one Isaac Bertrand du Tufifeau, and fur- 
nished him with the necessary funds for effecting an im- 
mediate settlement. Du Tuifeau reached Boston in the 
latter part of the summer of 1687, and upon presenting 
his credentials was given a grant of seven hundred and 
fifty acres of land in the Nipmuck region, on the site of 
the present town of Oxford. 
Nipmuck The place selected for the little colony was far from 

Region near ^ ^ 

Worcester civilizatiou, iu the heart of the forests that stretched in 
every direction undisturbed by the settler's axe. It could 
be reached only by the faint trail known as the Bay Path, 
which connected Boston with the valley of the Connecti- 
cut Eiver and the settlement of Springfield ; but remote 
and difficult of access as it was, the Oxford region had 
many features to recommend it. A small river flowed 
through the centre of a delightful valley which was walled 
in by a circle of rolling hills. Abundant water-power 
was at hand, the level plain which stretched out on either 
side of the river gave evidence of great fertility, while 
the near-by hillsides offered admirable opportunities for 
orchards and meadows. 

To this promising locality, then, the first group of set- 

134 



THE OXFOED SETTLEMENT 135 

tiers made their way in tlie summer of du Tiiffean's ar- Arrival of 
rival in Boston. There were not more than ten families in ^ ^rs i 7 
the party which Daniel Bondet, an intrepid French Prot- 
estant minister who had come to Boston during the pre- 
vious year, led forward into the wilderness. Hardly had 
the work of clearing the land and building the rude log 
cabins been gotten under way when du Tuffeau himself 
took up his residence in the colony. Fortunately for the 
colonists the winter proved to be a very mild one ; and al- 
though they had arrived too late for gathering any crops 
they did not suffer for lack of food, as the woods abounded GameandFish 
in game and the numerous lakes and streams were well 
stocked with fish, while from the neighboirriug Indians 
they were able to procure suiDplies of corn. Du Tuffeau' s 
first 'care was to erect a fort on a hill which commanded 
the little village and the surrounding valley. The remains 
of this fort are still extant, and show it to have been a The Fort 
carefully j)lanned and solidly built structiu'e, consisting 
of a roomy inclosure surrounded by a stockade, near the 
centre of which stood a block -house about thirty feet long 
by eighteen feet wide. The fort was equipped with a well 
and a powder-magazine and was adapted to resist a sud- 
den onslaught or an extended siege ; for the settlers of 
those days were forced to hold themselves in readiness 
against every conceivable stroke of ill fortune. But the 
Indians were apparently peacefully disposed and the 
Huguenots wasted but little thought on them. 

II 
The year following the establishment of the colony 
Bernon himself set sail for America, bringing with him a 
number of servants and several families of prospective 
settlers. This company numbered about forty persons in 
all, and Bernon took upon himself the expense of fitting 
out the entire enterprise. As soon as he arrived at Bos- 1688 
ton Bernon proceeded to get a confirmation of a grant of 
land giving him a tract of twenty-five hundred acres 



136 



THE FEEN^CH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Bernon Ar- 
rives 



House of 
Worship 



A;Compact 
Village 



Du Tuffeau 
Magistrate 



Some of the 
Families 



lying within the boundaries of Oxford. A little later he 
set out from Boston accompanied by Joseph Dudley, then 
Chief Justice of Massachusetts and one of the principal 
proprietors of the Oxford lands, who desired to show all 
courtesy to the powerful and agreeable Huguenot by put- 
ting him in formal possession of his property. Bernon' s 
presence gave a fresh impetus to the thriving little vil- 
lage. He at once set about causing needed improvements 
to be made ; built a grist-mill and a saw-mill to utilize 
the excellent water-power, and in many other ways pro- 
vided for the comfort and welfare of the colonists. It is 
significant to note that among his earliest enterprises on 
American soil was the erection of a commodious "tem- 
ple" for the worship of God. Previous to his coming, 
religious exercises had been conducted in minister Bon- 
ders "great house," which stood a little apart from the 
village, but owing to the number of new arrivals it was 
no longer large enough to serve as a place of gathering. 

The village itself was built in the compact style to 
which the refugees had been accustomed in their native 
country. All in aU, the town probably contained between 
seventy and eighty inhabitants during the second year of 
its establishment. Gabriel Bernon was only an occasional 
resident, spending the greater part of his time in Boston. 
After Bernon, du Tuffeau was probably the most impor- 
tant personage connected with the village. Besides acting 
as Bernon' s agent he was the village magistrate, commis- 
sioned by the General Court in 1689 to " have Authority 
for Tryall of small Causes not exceeding forty shillings, 
and to act in all other matters as any other Assistant may 
doe, as the Lawes of this Colony direct." Andre Sigour- 
ney was likewise a leader in the community. His ap- 
pointment as constable of "the French Plantation," an 
office which carried with it considerable respect and in- 
fluence, shows how highly he was regarded by his fellow 
citizens. With Sigouruey was his wife, Charlotte Pairau, 
and five children, who fled with him from La Eochelle 



THE OXFORD SETTLEMENT 137 

during the winter of 1681. Francois Bui-eau came of 
noble blood, and lied to London with his brother Thomas 
from their native village of Niort, in Poitou. In 1688 
Francois came to Oxford with his wife Anne and their 
two sous and two daughers. The eldest daughter, Anne, 
became later on the wife of Benjamin Faneuil and the 
mother of Peter Faneuil of Boston fame. 

Besides these, there was Jean Germaine, whose name 
was corrupted into Germon or German, and his daughter 
Margaret, who came from La Tremblade, in the province 
of Saintonge ; Paiz Cassaneau, of Lauguedoc ; Daniel 
Johonnot, a youthful nephew of Andre Sigouruey ; Jean 
Martin, his wife Anne, and their two children ; Elie 
Dupeux, a native of Port des Barques on the Saintonge 
coast ; Rene Grignon, Thomas Mousset, Guillaume Barbut, 
Jean Millet, Pierre Cante (Canton), Cornilly, Butt, 
Thibaud, Mourgues, and an Englishman named Johnson 
who married Susaune Sigouruey. Jacques Depont was a 
nephew of Bernon, while Jean Baudouin was the eldest 
son of Pierre Baudouin, founder of the illustrious Bow- 
doiu family in America. 

Ill 

But the little colony so prosperously begun was destined 
to have its full share of troubles. The practice of some Troubles 
unscrupulous traders in selling rum to the Indians seems Traded 
to have given the settlers the first premonitions of im- 
pending disaster. In 1691 the worthy Pastor Bondet, i6gi 
who had an appointment from the^Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel to work among the Indians, wrote a 
letter to one of the Massachusetts authorities imploring 
him to use his influence in putting a stop to the tratfic. 
After stating that the cause of his request is one which 
fills his heart with sorrow, he writes, "My humble re- 
quest will be at least before God and before you a solemn 
protestation against the guilt of those incorrigible persons 
who dwell in our place. The rome is always sold to the 



138 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

Indians Crazed Indian without Older and measure, insomuch that accord- 
ing to the complaint sent to me by master Dickestean 
with advice to present it to your honour, the 26 of the 
last month there was about twenty Indians so furious by 
druukeness that they fought like bears and fell upon one 
called Eemes who is appointed for preaching the Gospel 
amongst them. He had been so much disfigured by his 
wonds that there is no hope of his recovery." Bondet 
then goes on to beg his reader to interpose and maintain 
"the honour of God in a Christian habitation" and give 
comfort to ' ' some honest souls which being incompatible 
with such abominations feel every day the burden of 
afliction of their honourable peregrination aggravated." 

But no steps appear to have been taken to suppress the 
evil on the part of the authorities, for two years later 
Andre Sigourney made the following deposition : 

No ^'elp— Andr^ Sigourney ages of about fifty years doe affirme that the 28 

ing day of nouember last he was with all the others of the village in the 

mill for to take the rum in the hands of Peter Canton and when they 
asked hiui way hee doe abuse soe the Indiens in seleing them liquor to 
the great shame and dangers of all the company hee sd Canton an- 
swered that itt was his will and hee hath right soe to doe and asking 
him further if itt was noe him how make soe many Indiens drunk he 
did answer that hee had sell to one Indien and one squa the valew of 
four gills and that itt is all upon wch one of the company named 
Ellias Dupeux told him that hee have meet an Indien drunk wch have 
get. a bott fooll and said that itt was to the mill how sell itt he an- 
swered that itt may bee trueth. 

prre^stsTncite "^^^ scttlcrs had real cause for alarm when, in the 
to Murder gummcr of 1694, a band of Indians set on by the Canadian 
priests, brutally murdered the young daughter of one of 
the villagers named Alard, and carried oif two little chil- 
dren. Other depredations followed, and the whole line 
of the outlying English colonies was threatened by the 
attacks of roving bands of Canadian Indians accompanied 
by Jesuit missionaries. The inhabitants of Oxford were 
continually stirred by the news of some bloody foray ; 



THE OXFORD SETTLEMENT 139 

now it would be the story of how some isolated farmhouse 
had been attacked in the middle of the night and its 
sleeping occupants butchered ; or again, it would be the 
tale of a whole settlement put to the tomahawk. During 
the latter part of the summer the appearance of several 
bands of savages compelled the French colonists to take 
refuge in their fort. But though they were safe from 
actual danger within the confines of their strong stock- 
ade, yet they were made to suffer greatlj^ through the 
destruction of their crops and a large number of their 
cattle, which left them in a feeble condition to meet the 
rigorous winter which followed. As soon as they thought 
it prudent to leave the protection of the fort, several of 
the Huguenots made their way to Boston, being under 
the strong impression that their isolated settlement would 
not be able to maintain itself in the face of the roving 
bands of marauders, who being perfectly at home in the 
woods had every advantage of their civilized opponents. 
Among the number who left was du Tuffeau, who had 
been called to account by Bernon for mismanagement of 
his property. 

Nothing further happened to disturb the peace of i6g6 Johnson 
Oxford until the summer of 1696, The home of the Eng- tacked 
lishman Johnson, who had married Susanne Sigourney, 
stood a little removed from the other houses of the town 
in the midst of a level stretch still known as Johnson's 
Plain. On August 5th, a band of Indians approached 
this dwelling while Johnson was some distance off, seized 
his three small children, Andre, Pierre and Marie, who 
were playing about the door-step, and dashed their brains 
out on the stones of the fireplace. The dazed and agonized 
mother made her escape and started out to warn her hus- 
band, but failed to find him. Johnson, unsuspecting the 
fate that had befallen his home, returned soon after the 
atrocity had taken place and was felled to the ground as 
he crossed the threshold. As the news of this massacre 
spread through the outlying districts the inhabitants were 



140 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Settlement 
Abandoned 



Attempt at 
Revival 1699 



Ne\v Industry 



oue and aU aroused to the danger which threatened them. 
A body of troops was sent out from Worcester, supported 
by forty friendly Indians, and for many days the neigh- 
bouring woods were scoured for traces of the murderers, 
but none of them were ever brought to justice. 

The feeling of insecurity that had been gaining ground 
in Oxford was so heightened by the killing of the Johnson 
children that with one accord the refugees decided to 
abandon their settlement. Sigourney, Germon, Johonnot, 
Boutineau, Dupeul Cassaneau, Grignon, Barbut, Montier, 
Canton, Maillet, and Mousset retired to Boston. Depont 
found a new home in Mil ford, Connecticut. Bondet and 
Martin went to New Rochelle, in the province of New 
York ; Bureau and Montel to New York. Baudouin 
made his way to Virginia, where his descendants may 
still be traced. 

IV 

An attempt to revive the settlement was made three 
years later, in the spring of 1699. The refugees who had 
gone back to Boston returned to Oxford and reclaimed 
their abandoned farms. It is j^robable that the energetic 
Bernon was the prime mover in this endeavour at reset- 
tlement, for he had expended a large sum of money in 
developing his Oxford property and in providing for the 
common welfare. The greatest loss, therefore, resulting 
from the abandonment of the project fell upon his shoul- 
ders. As soon, however, as the colony was revived he 
proceeded to invest more capital in its interests, and to- 
gether with Rene Grignon and Jean Papiueau established 
a wash-leather manufactory on the banks of the river that 
flowed through the town. This new industry gave em- 
ployment to many of the villagers in hunting and trap- 
ping the game that abounded in the surrounding forests, 
and proved itself a decided advantage to the refugees. 
Loads of dressed skins were carted down to Providence 
and thence shipped by water to Boston and Newport, 



THE OXFOED SETTLEMENT 141 

where they were made iuto hats and gloves by the skilled 
Huguenot artisans. 
Jacques Laborie, a minister who had come to Boston Jesuit 

^ ' Intrigues 

from London during the previous year, accompanied the 
returning settlers. He brought with him his wife, Jeanne 
de Eessiguier, and his daughter Susanue. As he held an 
appointment from the corporation for promoting the 
Gospel in New England he at once set to work among the 
savages, with whom he soon came to be on the most 
friendly footing. It was owing to his intimacy with the 
Indians and his knowledge of their language that the 
warning of fresh intrigues on the part of the Jesuits was 
brought to the attention of the authorities. In spite of 
the treaty of Eyswick it soon became evident that the Indians 

Hostile 

priests were again endeavouring to stir up the friendly 
tribes to proceed against the English colonies. 

In a letter to Governor Bellomont, Laborie informs 
him that numbers of the neighbouring Indians are pre- 
paring to leave and join the Pennacooks in New Hamp- 
shire, That they declare the "French" religion to be 
"plus belle que la notre" (more beautiful than ours), 
and that they will be furnished with silver crosses to 
hang about their necks, and that great promises have 
been made to them,. Laborie is confident from the things 
he has heard that the priests are hard at work perfecting 
some scheme which they will bring forward when a 
propitious occasion presents itself. Eumours of such a 
nature kept the people of Oxford in a constant state of 
tension, but it was not until the summer of 1703 that 1703 
actual hostilities broke out. They did their best to pre- 
pare for any sudden emergency that might arise ; a mil- oeerfieid 
itary company was formed and the town's defenses were 
strengthened by building a palisade around Bernon's 
house to serve as a stronghold for the garrison. But 
after the Deerfield massacre, where over a hundred and 
fifty persons were slain or made prisoners, the handful of 



142 THE PEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 
sprmgon704, never to return agaiu '*''"'""'"'' '" "^e 




CHAPTEE III 
GABEIEL BEEKON 



GABEIEL BEENON came of an ancient family The Bemon 
claiming descent from the house of the Counts of Ancient 
Burgundy. Even without this noble lineage the 
Bernons had an independent patent of nobility, due to the 
fact that they had furnished several mayors to the inde- 
pendent city of La Eochelle, Gabriel, who succeeded his 
father Andre in business, was born April 6, 1664. He 
was a skillful man of affairs and under his guidance the 
house of Bernon became one of the wealthiest and most 
influential concerns in the flourishing seaport. The de- 
velopment of a considerable trade with Canada caused 
Bernon to take up his residence there for a number of 
years, and so successful was he that the governor of 
Canada, de Denonville, refers to him as the principal 
merchant in the colony. 

But Bernon was a Protestant, as his father had been 
before him ; indeed, the family had been one of the first staunch 

' Protestants 

in La Eochelle to adopt the Eeformed religion, and it was 
in the Bernon mansion that many of the earliest Protes- 
tant services were held. His religion made him obnoxious 
to the Jesuits, who had by this time gained control of 
Canada and were bent on persecuting the Huguenots as 
heartily as did their compatriots at home, and so he was 
given notice to recant or quit. * ' It is a pity that he can- 
not be converted," wrote de Denonville, "as he is a 
Huguenot, the bishop wants me to order him home this 
autumn, which I have done, though he carries on a large 
business and a great deal of money remains due to him here/^ 

143 



144 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Personal Ap- 
pearance 



Jesuit Honour If they could Dot make him a Catholic they would at least 
make sure that his faith should cost him a fortune ! 
Nothing daunted by this blow, Bernon returned to La 
Eochelle, arriving at the height of the persecution. He 
was at once thiowu into prison where he was confined for 
some months, being released finally through the influence 
of his brothers, who had recanted. Unshaken in his 
faith, he made the best disposition of what property re- 
mained to him and escaped to Holland in May, 1686. 
From Amsterdam he made his way to London the follow- 
ing year and formed the project of the Oxford settlement, 
as we have seen. 

II 

In the summer of 1688 Bernon reached Boston after a 
voyage of ten weeks, a rapid journey for those days. His 
personal appearance is described, by a tradition dating 
from his arrival in Boston, as that of a man of command- 
ing presence whose bearing always won the respect and 
consideration due to his character and ability. His figure 
was tall and of slender proportions ; his carriage, erect 
and expressive of energy in every movement, yet tem- 
pered with a peculiar grace and courtly suavity. While 
on ordinary occasions his manner was affable and kindly, 
his hot temper sometimes led him to assume a tone of de- 
cided imperiousness. Thoroughly upright in all the acts 
of his life, thinking high thoughts, genuine in his re- 
ligious feelings, thoughtful, optimistic and daring in his 
public and private ventures, he was naturally qualified 
for leadership. Misfortunes never daunted him, and left 
him ever the same brave, steadfast, hopeful man. 

Such a man would soon make his presence felt in the 
colony, and Bernon shortly became one of the leading 
citizens of Boston. After attending to the matters of the 
Oxford settlement and getting himself naturalized as a 
British subject, he devoted his attention to several in- 
dustrial enterprises. Prominent among these undertak- 
ings was the manufacture of rosin and other naval stores. 



A Leading 
Citizen 



GABRIEL BERNON 



145 



Developer ol 
Trade 



He was so successful in this that he engaged the interest Navai stores 
of a government agent who had been sent to Massachu- 
setts to learn what means were to be found in America for 
supplying the royal navy with such articles. By the ad- 
vice of this agent, Bernon took a trip to London in the 
year 1693 to inform the admii-alty of the opportunities 
for producing naval stores on a large scale in America, 
and also for the purpose of securing a patent on their 
manufactm^e. He was very favourably received by Lord 
Portland and other high officials, and succeeded in se- 
curing a contract from the government to supply a quan- 
tity of stores for a term of years. 

Three years later he again made a visit to England on 
the same errand, returning to Boston with Governor Bello- 
mont. To the governor Bernon unfolded his schemes for 
developing the manufactures and produce of the colony, 
and Lord Bellomont was greatly taken with his ideas, 
even recommending the royal council to appoint the 
refugee superintendent of naval stores in America. But 
it was the government's policy, at that time, to discourage 
colonial industries even in a case where they would mani- 
festly benefit the public interests, and nothing ever came 
of Bernon' s efforts in that direction. 

But during these years Bernon' s activities were not 
confined to endeavouring to overcome British insularity. 
His energy found vents for itself in a hundred other direc- 
tions. Besides retaining an active interest in the Oxford 
settlement he joins the Faneuils and Louis Allaire in trad- 
ing with Virginia and Pennsylvania ; he becomes a 
prosperous exporter to England and the West Indies ; 
trades in furs with the !N'ova Scotians ; invests considera- 
ble capital in ship- building ; sets up salt-works, and 
undertakes the manufacture of nails. Indeed, there was 
hardly a department of colonial enterprise to which Ber- 
non did not turn his attention. He did not put business Religion First 
first, however, but was always scrupulous to discharge his 
obligations as a Christian and a member of the state. He 



Large Enter- 
prises 



146 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



was free-hauded in his dealings with his fellow refugees 
and aided many of them, who had been compelled to leave 
all their property in France, to get on their feet. When 
he had been a resident of Massachusetts for but two years 
the expedition against Port Royal was sent forward, and 
Bernon was not slow to contribute more than his share in 
furnishing arms, munition and money. 



Removal to 
Rhode Island 



Newport 



III 

After a residence of nine years in Boston he removed to 
Rhode Island and settled first in Newport, from there 
going to Providence. While in Newport his career was 
substantially the same that it had been in Boston. He 
identified himself with the life of the growing town and 
was a leader in many of its numerous enterprises. With 
Daniel Ayrault for a partner he engaged largely in the 
West India trade, in which Rhode Island was then taking 
the lead. It was a hazardous business, invohdug great 
risks and great profits as well, as many wealthy Rhode 
Island families of to-day whose fortunes date back to the 
days of the ' ' triangular trade ' ' attest. Fortune did not 
favour Bernon in most of these ventures, however. He 
suffered losses from the French privateers which scoured 
the neighbouring waters, and from shipwreck, also. 
Greater than any loss of wealth to Gabriel Bernon was 
the death of his only son, who met his death in one of his 
father's ships that was outward bound for the Indies. 
Soon after leaving Newport the vessel was overtaken by 
a violent storm, and it is believed that she must have 
foundered, for none of her ship's company was ever heard 
fi"om again. It was a great blow to the Huguenot, with 
his pride of birth and ancestry, to lose the only member 
of his family who could perpetuate the name of Bernon 
in America. Perhaps the death of his son may have in- 
fluenced him to withdraw from the trade and take up his 
residence in Providence, for he did so not long after- 
wards. 



GABRIEL BERNON 147 

But though he gradually withdrew from active partic- Providence 
ipatiou in business affairs, he lost none of his former 
zeal in the cause of religion. While living in Boston he 
had been a devoted member of the French Reformed 
church, and the relations he afterwards sustained with 
that church were always of the most cordial nature, but 
on coming to Rhode Island, where there were not enough 
of his countrymen to support such an organization, he 
immediately allied himself with the Anglican communion. 
More fervent in his faith than the majority of the Epis- 
copalians in the colony, and accustomed to act rather Founder of 
than talk, he was largely instrumental in founding the 
first three Anglican churches in the province — Trinity 
Church in Newport, St. Paul's Church in Kingston and 
St. John's Church in Providence. In the year 1724, 
when he was eighty -one years old, he crossed over to Devotion to 
present to the Bishop of London the needs of the church 
in Providence and the benefits which would accrue from 
sending there an able and competent minister. Surely 
it is not too much to say that a man who, in the declining 
years of his life, was willing to undertake the perils and 
hardships of a voyage that was at its best an uncomfort- 
able and hazardous proceeding — and willing to do this 
not for personal motives but for the well-being of others 
— was a man of heroic mould, and one of whom his de- 
scendants may well be proud. 

Bernon had lost much of his property by some of his Last Years 
later ventures, yet enough remained to him to enable him 
to build a fine house in Providence "near Roger Will- 
iams' spring," and there he lived his last few years in quiet 
happiness, giving his time to writings and correspond- 
ence, mostly of a religious character. Up to the very 
last his Protestantism was pronounced and vigorous. He 
could never endure anything in the nature of priestly as- 
sumption or ecclesiastical domination, and in a letter to 
the vestry of Trinity Church in Newport written in his 
old age, denouncing a pamphlet on church order which 



148 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



His Vie\vs 



Memorial 
Tablet 



they had sanctioned, he says : "I am a born layman of 
France, naturalized English, which I hold a greater 
honour than all the riches of France, because the English 
laity are not, like the laity of France, slaves of the clergy 
and hackneys of the Pope ; wherefore rather than submit 
to this I abandoned my country, my fortune, and my 
friends, in order to become a citizen under the English 
government." And because of his staunch belief in the 
rights of the laity he found Ehode Island a more congenial 
place of residence than Massachusetts, with its ecclesias- 
tical hierarchy, which smacked too much of the intoler- 
ance of Catholicism in France to meet with his entire ap- 
proval. 

He died in 1736, at the age of ninety-one, and was 
buried under St. John's Church, Providence, with every 
token of public respect. A tablet in the church bears 
the following inscription : 



In Memory of Gabriel Bernon, Son of Andre and Suzanne Bernon, 
Born at La Rochelle, France, April 6, A. D. 1644. A Huguenot. 
After two years' imprisonment for his Religious Faith, Previous to the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, He took refuge in England, and 
came to America A. D. 1688. Here he continued steadfast in promot- 
ing The Honour of the Church And the Glory of God. It is recorded 
in the History of Rhode Island, that " To the persevering piety and un- 
tiring zeal of Gabriel Bernon the first three Episcopal Churches in 
Ehode Island owed their orgin," King's, now St. John's Church, Provi- 
dence, Founded A. D. 1722, being one of them. He died in the Faith 
once delivered to the Saints, Feb. 1, A. D. 1736, A 92, And is 
buried beneath this Church. " Every one that hath forsaken houses, 
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or 
lands, for My name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall in- 
herit eternal lite."— St. Matt. 



Bernon's De- 
scendants 



IV 

Bernon's first wife was Esther Le Eoy, daughter of a 
wealthy Huguenot merchant of La Eochelle. She ac- 
companied her husband to America and died in Newport 
in 1710, at the age of fifty- six. The childi'en by this 



GABRIEL BERNON 149 

marriage were Gabriel, Marie, Esther, Sarah, and Jeanne. 
Gabriel died unmarried. Marie married Abraham Tour- 
tellot, a Huguenot who was at that time master of a ves- 
sel sailing from Newport. Their descendants are numer- 
ous. Esther married Adam Powell, of Newport, in 1713. 
She gave birth to two daughters, the elder of whom, 
Elizabeth, married the Reverend Samuel Seabury, of New 
London, Connecticut ; while the younger, Esther, married 
Chief-Justice Helme of the Superior Court of Rhode 
Island. 

Sarah married the representative of a prominent New 
England family, Benjamin Whipple, in the year 1722. 
Jeanne married Colonel William Coddington, of Newport, 
in 1722. The issue of this union was two sons and four 
daughters ; John and Francis, Content, Esther, Jane and 
Ann. 

The children of Bernon's second wife, Mary Harris, 
granddaughter of William Harris, who accompanied 
Roger Williams when he landed at Whatcheer rock in 
1636, were Susanne, Mary, and Eve. There was also 
born to her a son, Gabriel, who died at an early age. 

Susanne married Joseph Crawford in 1734. Nine 
children were born to them, the youngest of whom, Ann, Honorable 
was married to Zachariah Allen in 1778. The Honour- iuen^"^^ 
able Zachariah Allen, son of Ann Crawford and grandson 
of Susanne Bernon, was born in Providence, Rhode 
Island, in 1795, where he died in 1882 at the age of eighty- 
seven. His Huguenot ancestry was always a matter of 
keen interest to Mr. Allen, and as president of the Rhode President 

. . , r>, -1/7 .-■ n ■, Rhode Island 

Island Historical Society and first president of the Historical so- 

Huguenot Memorial Society of Oxford, Massachusetts, he "^^^ 

was enabled to further the growing sentiment which gives 

to the French Protestant emigrants their rightful place 

among the founders of the Republic. As Baird says of Brown 1813 

Mr. Allen, " perhaps more than any other American who 

has lived in these times, Mr. Allen himself illustrated 

some of the finest traits of the Huguenot character." A 



150 THE FRE:N^CH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

graduate of Brown University in the class of 1813, he 
studied law and medicine and then engaged in business 
with marked success. Inheriting the versatility of his 
ancestor, Gabriel Bernon, his public and his private in- 
terests were of the broadest character ; he was a thorough 
student of the sciences, made several valuable improve- 
ments in the construction of machinery, was largely en- 
gaged in promoting philanthropic activities, and wrote 
several books and many papers. But above all, he was 
loved by all who knew him for his buoyancy, kindliness, 
unfailing sympathy and simple piety. 

Mary Bernon married Gideon Crawford, and gave birth 
to seven sons and four daughters. Her younger sister, 
Eve, died unmarried. 







THE BALUOU CHOta.cH-.-.|(;,^0 
(ATTENOEO by PRgs.GARFieuO'S A/\OTHer?) 



CHAPTER IV 
THE NAEEAGAl^SETT SETTLEMENT 



E 



VEN more unfortunate in its outcome than the a Land 
Oxford settlement was the attempt to establish a 



'Huguenot community near the shores of Narra- 
gansett Bay, within the limits of the township known to- 
day as East Greenwich. The complete failure of this proj - 
ect was in no wise due, however, to the refugees them- 
selves, but to the fact that they were inveigled by 
an unscrupulous land company into purchasing a tract 
whose title was later shown to be invalid- 
In October, 1686, a body of Huguenots in London made 1686 London 
arrangements with the "Atherton Company," which 
claimed the ownership of the " Narragansett Country," 
whereby they acquired a site for a settlement. According 
to the terms of the contract each family was to receive 
one hundred acres of upland and a share of meadow ; the 
price for which was fixed at twenty pounds the hundred 
acres if paid for at once, or twenty-five pounds if settled 
for at the end of three years. The '' Narragansett 
Country," comprising all that portion of Rhode Island 
which to-day lies south of the town of Warwick on the 
western side of Narragansett Bay, had long been the 
cause of dispute between Connecticut and Rhode Island. 
Connecticut claimed that her borders extended to the 
shores of Narragansett Bay and therefore included the 
disputed territory, and Rhode Island, on the other hand, 
as stoutly denied it. These rival claims had already been 
submitted to the crown for adjustment and the decision 
was still pending when the Huguenots made their 
unfortunate purchase, little dreaming that their homes 

151 



152 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



The Colonists 



Pastor 
Carre 



would be taken from them through a judgment of the 
courts. 

Immediately following the purchase of their town-site 
from the ''Atherton Company," the refugees took up 
their residence in Rhode Island. They numbered in all 
forty-eight families, ten of whom came from La Rochelle, 
ten from Saintonge, with perhaps as many more from 
Poitou ; the remainder hailing from Guyenne and Nor- 
mandy, ^zechiel Carr6 was the pastor and principal 
leader of the colony. He had studied under Calvin at 
Geneva, and had already held the pastorate of two 
churches in France, at Mirameau in Saintonge, and La 
Roche Chalais in Guyenne. Closely associated with him 
as a leader was Pierre Berthon de Marign (Peter Berton, 
or Burton), who was descended from a prominent family 
of Chattelerault in Poitou. With Berton came his wife, 
Margaret, a native of the same town. Pierre Ayrault, a 
native of Angers, province of Anjou, was the physician 
of the colony, and brought with him his wife, Frangoise, 
his son Daniel, and nephew named Nicholas. Besides 
these leaders the list of the colonists comprises the 
following names : Andre Arnaud, Jean Amian, Louis 
Allaire, ^zechiel Bouniot, Jean Beauchamps, Pierre 
Bretin dit Laronde, Daniel Belhair, Paul Bussereau, 
Guillaume Barbut, Jean Coudret, Jean Chadene, Paul 
Collin, Jean David, Josue David, Sr., Josue David, Jr., 
Pierre Deschamps, Theophile Froetier, Jean Galay, 
!^zechiel Grazilier, Rene Grignon, Jean Germou, Jean 
Julieu, Daniel Jouet, Etienne Jamain, Daniel Lambert, 
Pierre Le Moine, ifitienne La Vigne, Moise Le Brun, 
Daniel Le Gendre, Jean Lafon, Francois Legare, Menar- 
deau Milard, Jacques Magni, Jean Magni, !^lie Rambert, 
Jacob Ratier, Daniel Renaud, Etienne Rogineau, Daniel 
Targe, Abram Tourtellot, Pierre Traverrier, Pierre 
Tougere. 

II 

The first care of the settlers was to provide themselves 



THE NAEEAGANSETT SETTLEMENT 153 



with places of shelter against the approachiug winter. Homes buut 
According to the account left by Aj-rault, some twenty 
houses were built that fall, together with "some cellars 
in the ground." The latter refers, undoubtedly, to the 
dug-outs which many of the early settlers found it con- 
venient to occupy until opportunity came for constructing 
more comfortable and pretentious dwellings. The com- 
mon type of such '' cellars " was a square pit six or seven 
feet deep, floored and walled with wood, and roofed with 
logs covered by a layer of sod. If we may believe the 
testimony of a contemporary writer and observer it was 
possible for the occupants of these residences to "live 
dry and warm with their families for two, three and four 
years." Duriug the winter they occupied their time in 
clearing away the stones that littered their farms, felling 
trees, and otherwise preparing for the planting season. 
Fifty acres of land were set apart for the maintenance 
of a school, provision was made for erecting a church as 
soon as the weather permitted, and one hundred and fifty 
acres were freely donated to Pastor Carr6 for his support ; 
for among these worthy j)eople, religion, education and 
industry went hand in hand. And although their labours 
were of necessity very severe at first they went about with 
glad hearts, "for," says Ayrault, "we had a comfort; 
we could enjoy our worship to God." 

In the course of a few years the appearance of "French- Prenchtown 
town," as it was then called, and as the locality is known 
to-day, was greatly changed. By their industry and skill 
the refugees had turned a wilderness into a garden. The 
"cellars" had been replaced by comfortable houses, the 
forest had given way to orchards and vineyards, and 
neat fences and hedges surrounded trim gardens. The 
mild climate of that section of Rhode Island, resembling 
Virginia, was found to be admirably adapted to the cul- 
tivation of grapes, and some persons in Boston who had 
tasted the wine from them gave the judgment that they 
"thought it as good as Bordeaux claret." Other plans, 



154 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

too, filled the busy minds of the settlers ; among them 
being the planting of mulberry trees upon which to breed 
silk- worms. In this effort to establish a profitable indus- 
try they hoped to be aided by further accessions of their 
countrymen, and the prospect seemed good that within a 
few years Ehode Island would be the home of a large 
number of Huguenot silk producers. 
Land Claimed g^^^ though the futuTC prospcct of the settlement seemed 

by the English ° -^ ^ 

bright, it was never realized, "Within five years of its 
establishment only two families out of the forty-eight 
remained on the land they had improved and rendered 
fertile. For by the decision of the court it was made 
apparent that the refugees had been innocently occupying 
lands to which other parties held prior claims, and that 
the "Atherton Company" had deluded them with spe- 
cious pretenses. In the summer of 1691 the settlement 
was broken up and the various families sought homes for 
themselves in more hospitable localities. Dr. Ayrault 
gives the following account of the troubles which beset 
the refugees : 

The protecting of us in our liberty and property was continued not 
two years under said Government, before we were molested by the 
vulgar sort of the people, who flinging down our fences laid open our 
Pitiable Plight lands to ruin, so that all benefit thereby we were deprived of. Ruin 
of the Victims i^qJ^^^ qq ^g jq a dismal state ; our wives and children living in fear 
of the threats of many unruly persons ; and what benefit we expected 
from our lands for subsistence was destroyed by secretly laying open 
our fences by night and day ; and what little we had preserved by 
flying from France, we had laid out under the then improvements. It 
looked so hard upon us, to see the cryes of our wives and children, 
lamenting their sad fate, flying from persecution, and coming under 
his Majesty's gracious Indulgence, and by the Government promised 
us, yet we, ruined. And when we complained to the Government, we 
could have no relief, although some would have helped us, we judge, if 
by their patience they could have borne such ill treatments as they must 
expect to have met with by the unruly inhabitants there settled also. 
Many of the English inhabitants compassionating our condition, 
would have helped us ; but when they used any means therein, they 
were evilly treated. So that these things did put us then upon looking 



THE NAERAGANSETT SETTLEMENT 155 

for a place of shelter, in our distressed condition ; and hearing that 
many of our distressed country people had been protected and well 
treated in Boston and Yorke, to seek out new habitations, where the 
Governments had compassion on them, and gave them relief and help, 
to their wives and children subsistance. Only two families moving to 
Boston, and the rest to New York, and there bought lands, some of 
them, and had time given them for payment. And so was they all 
forced away from their lands and houses, orchards and vineyards, 
taking some small matter from some English people for somewhat of 
their labour ; thus leaving all habitations. Some people got not any- 
thing for their labour and improvements, but Greenwich men who had 
given us the disturbance, getting on the lands, so improved in any 
way they could, and soon pulled down and demolished our church. 

It is only fair to the "Greenwich men" to state that 
the tract of land occupied by the French had been granted Greenwich 
to these "unruly persons" by the legislature of Ehode 
Island in 1677, so that they looked upon the refugees as 
nothing short of interlopers. Besides doing everything 
in their power to dispossess the Huguenots, the people of 
Greenwich seit a petition to the governor in which they 
desired to know "by what order or Lawe or by what means 
those Frenchmen are settled in our town bounds," and 
in which they asserted that the presence of these intruders 
"proves great detriment to us," and prophesied that 
unless the French were made to vacate their illegal hold- 
ings the persons to whom the land belonged w^ould "be 
utterly ruined." 

Their plan for establishing a community proving itself scattered 
a failiu'C, and having sunk the greater part of their funds 
in the common venture, the refugees could no longer pro- 
ceed as a body but were forced to become widely scattered 
upon leaving the Narragansett settlement. The condi- 
tions prevailing in the pro\dnce of New York seemed 
most favourable to the majority of the Huguenots, and 
of the twenty -five families who removed thither the fol- 
lowing found homes in New York city itself : Bouniot, 
Coudret, the three David families, Galay, Grazilier, 
Jamain, Lafon, Lambert, La Vigne, LeBreton, the two 



Colony 



156 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

Magni families, Rambert, Ratier, Robineau, both Targe 
families, Traverrier, and Tougere. The families of Ber- 
tin, Chadene, Froetier aud Benaud joined the settlement 
at New Rochelle. The families of Allaire, Arnaud, 
Beauchamps, Barbut, Deschamps, Legare and Tourtellot 
went to Boston. Germon and Griguon jom-neyed through 
the woods to the settlement at Oxford. South Carolina 
received Amian, Jouet, Le Brun and Le Gendre, and 
Milford, Connecticut, became the home of Paul Collin. 
Jean Julien went only as far as Newport, while Ayrault 
and Le Moine, of all the settlers, were the only ones to 
remain in Greenwich. Le Moine' s descendants, under 
the name of Money or Mawney, still possess the farm 
which their ancestor cut out of the forest. A few of the 
emigrants, Pastor Carre among them, disappear from the 
records after the year 1691, and it is impossible to trace 
them to their new habitations or state what fate befell 
them. 




PQsion Old Lalin School. Where French Church Met 



CHAPTEE V 
THE FRENCH CHUECH IN BOSTON 



THE history of the French Protestant Church in 
Boston forms an essential part of the story of the 
French who found refuge among the Pui'itans in 
this land which was destined to become one of religious 
liberty, although the principle of freedom of conscience 
had to be established through the independent stand of 
those who would not yield to Congregationalism in 
America those things from which they had fled in 
Europe. 

The date of the organization of the French Protestants 
of Boston into a church is not definitely known. Such an . . 

organization was in existence as early as 1685, with a »^5 
settled minister, as is shown by the correspondence be- 
tween Eev. Peter Daille and Eev. Increase Mather, min- 
ister of the North Church in Boston and President of 
Harvard College. Dr. Charles W. Baird thinks it highly p^^^^. ^^^jj^ 
probable that this congregation, like some others, may 
have been gathered together by the excellent Daill6, 
who gained the title of the ' ' Apostle of the Huguenots in 
America," collecting them into churches in various 
sections of the country as Paul gathered the Christian 
converts in Asia Minor. Daille came to America in 1682, 
sent out by the Bishop of London to labour among the 
French emigrants in the new world. 

We know that the French were treated most kindly by .. Latine 
the ministers and the public authorities of Boston, who schooihouse " 

^ " Granted for 

received the little flock of strangers as brothers fleeing Meetings 
from home persecution on account of their faith, and thus 

157 



158 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Proposed 
Temple 



worthy of every consideration. The Council of Boston 
on November 24, 1687, granted liberty ' ' to the French Con- 
gregation to meete in the Latine Schoolhouse at Boston as 
desired." This Latin School was the beginning of the 
educational system in Boston, and gave the name of 
Schoolhouse Lane to what is now School Street. Li the 
old schoolhouse, which stood just southeast of the present 
King's Chapel, the French Church continued to worship 
for nearly thirty years. At least ten years earlier than 
this there was an effort made to build a suitable ' ' tem- 
ple," as we learn from the Massachusetts Archives where 
are preserved the Minutes of Council. Under date of 
January 12, 1704 is this record : 



Upon a Representation made by Mr. Daillfe Minister and the Elders 
of the French Protestant Church in Boston That his late Majesty, King 
William, had bestowed on them Eighty-three pounds to be Imploy'd 
towards building them a House for the Publick Worship of God, set- 
ting forth, That they have purchased a piece of land in Schoolhouse 
Lane in Boston for that use. Praying to be licensed to aske and receive 
the Benevolence of well-disposed persons that shall be willing to en- 
courage so pious a worke to assist them in said Building : Advised 
that License be accordingly granted and the moneys thereby collected 
to be put into the hands of Simeon Stoddard Esqr and to be applyed 
for the use afores'd and no other. And the House when built to be 
forever continued and improved for religious worship. 



Perinission 
Refused 



II 

While the Council consented, the selectmen refused 
their permission to build at this time, renewing however 
the ' ' offer of the free liberty to meet in the new school- 
house," which, they said, was "sufficient for a far larger 
number of persons" than that composing the congrega- 
tion. Mr. Julien thinks it may fairly be surmised that 
this refusal was based upon a feeling that the Huguenot 
custom of observing Christmas and like festival days, to- 
gether with the fact that the congregation spoke a 
foreign tongue, seemed to justify to their Puritan neigh- 
bours a measure of restraint. This is not unlikely in 



THE FEENCH CHUECH IN BOSTON 159 

view of the fact that it was deemed essential to euact in 
the laws of Massachusetts Bay, 1651, that ' ' whosoever 
shall be found observing any such day as Christmas, or 
the like, either by forbearing labour, feasting, or any 
other way upon such account as aforesaid, every such 
person so offending shall pay for every such offense, five 
shillings as a fine to the county." 

It is known, moreover, that while Pastor Daill6 was Liturgy not 

' ' Liked 

admired and esteemed by the English, many of whom 
sometimes came to hear his eloquent sermons, yet the 
stricter class of the Puritans could not be expected to 
favour a liturgical worship that reminded them of what 
they would fain forget, or observances which savoured to 
them of popery. Samuel Sewall, who was next door neigh- 
bour to one of the Huguenot merchants, Jacques Leblond, 
enters in his famous diary a gentle protest against one of 
these practices : ' ' This day I spake with Mr. Newman 
about his partaking with the French Church on the 25th 
of December on account of its being Christmas day, as 
they abusively call it." Another surmise may be made, 
namely, that the selectmen, who represented a govern- 
ment that was a combination of Church and State, did not 
wish any other form of church organization to become so 
firmly established as to own a house of worship, and 
treated the French precisely as they did the Baptists who 
desired to build meeting houses : with this difference, that 
they were much more kindly and lenient in disposition 
towards the French, and did not persecute them as they 
did those of kindred blood who took their stand for 
liberty of conscience. There are, indeed many evidences 
that the French had the cordial regard of their Puritan Regard for the 
neighbours. " 'Tis my hope," said Cotton Mather, ^''^"'^^ 
'' that the English churches will not fail in respect to any 
that have endured hard things for their faithfulness to 
the Son of God." This hope was realized. While the 
plans for a church building were delayed for a decade, 
until after the death of the good minister, Daill6, who had 



160 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



House in 1715 clierished the project, iu 1715 a house of worship, an un- 
pretentious brick building, was erected on the plot of 
ground originally intended for it, and the French church 
had a home of its own until it gave up its separate 
existence. 

Ill 

The first pastor of the French church was a severe trial 
Erratic Pastor both to the members and the outside friends. Laurentius 
Van den Bosch, more properly Laurent du Bois, of 
French parentage, had lived some time in Holland and 
adopted a Dutch patronymic. He was erratic in the ex- 
treme. Eemoviug to England, he conformed to the Eng- 
lish church, and came to America with a license from the 
Bishop of London. In Boston he speedily made himself 
disliked by his disregard of rules and haughty and stub- 
born demeanour when reproved. He also embroiled his 
little congregation, and his conduct was so prejudicial 
that Mr. Daill^ wrote to Eev. Increase Mather, begging 
him not to permit the annoyance occasioned by Mr. 
'' Vandenbosk" to diminish his favour towards the 
French, since the fault of a single person ought not to be 
imputed to others to their harm. 

Fortunately for all concerned Vandenbosk soon left 
Boston, and was followed by a man of very different 
character, a most estimable minister who accompanied 
the French Protestants from the island of St. Christopher 
in 1686. The coming of this company added much to 
the strength of the French congregation, which was 
never large in numbers, and the new pastor, David Bon- 
repos, was able to heal the divisions caused by his pred- 
ecessor, and to enter into most pleasant relations with 
his fellow ministers. His little flock was to be pitied 
that after a year of such admirable service to the cause in 
Boston he was called to minister to the Huguenot colonies 
in New Eochelle, Staten Island, and New Paltz, in the 
province of New York. 



Good 
Bonrepos 



THE FEENCH CHURCH IN BOSTON 161 

''There are not more than twenty French families 
here," he wrote from Boston in the winter of 1687, " and 
their number is diminishing daily, as they remove into 
the country to buy or take up lauds for cultivation with 
a view to permanent settlement." The way these com- 
paratively few families held together and maintained their 
church is remarkable ; all the more so when it is con- 
sidered that for eight years after Mr. Bom-epos left them 
they were pastorless, the pulpit being supplied irregularly 
by ^zechiel Carre, minister of the French colony in Nar- 
ragansett, Daniel Bondet, of New Oxford, and occasion- 
ally by Rev. Nehemiah Walter, John Eliot's successor at 
the First Church iu Roxbury, who was an accomplished 
French scholar, and was glad to render this service to the 
appreciative refugees 

Affairs were not promising until Mr. Daille came to pastorDaiiie 
Massachusetts fi*om New York, where he had been settled 
as minister of the French congregation from the time of 
his arrival in America. He served as pastor of the French 
church in Boston from 1696 until his death, nineteen 
years later. This was the period of greatest prosjDcrity 
for the church. Mr. Daille was recei\ ed by his brother 
ministers with the consideration his character and talents 
merited. He bore a distinguished name — that of the 
famous minister of Charenton, Jean Daille, one of the 
most learned scholars and theologians of his age. Before 
coming to America, moreover, Pierre had been professor a scholar and 
in the great Protestant Academy of Saumur, the most Preacher 
celebrated of the four Protestant colleges of France, "for 
eighty years a torch that illuminated all Europe." Like 
other scholars of his time he wrote Latin fluently, and 
his letters to Rev. Increase Mather show the marks of the 
scholar and courteous French gentleman. He was in 
truth a fine type of the Huguenot, adding to his breeding 
and learning an earnest and unaffected piety. "He is 
full of fire, godliness and learning," wrote the Dutch 
minister Selyns of New York. "Banished on account of 



162 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

his religion, he maintains the cause of Jesus Christ with 
untiring zeal." Such a minister and man was an influ- 
ence of inestimable good to the New England colony, not 
simply to his own people, who revered and loved him as 
one who had shared the fires of persecution in the bonds 
of a common faith. 

IV 

The liturgy observed by the refugees in their public re- 
ser'^ce^ ligious scrviccs, says Baird, was that which had been in 

use among the Reformed chui'ches of France for nearly a 
century and a half. Modelled by Calvin upon primitive 
offices, it was of rigid simplicity, yet it was orderly and 
impressive. The Sunday service was preceded by the 
reading of several chapters of Holy Scripture. The read- 
ing was performed, not by the clergyman, but by a '4ec- 
teur," who was also the "chantra" or precentor, and who 
frequently united with these functions those of the parish 
schoolmaster during the week. In Daill^'s day the "lec- 
teur" was probably ''old Mr. John Rawlins," whom the 
pastor remembered affectionately in his will. The read- 
ing ended with the decalogue ; and then came the service 
conducted by the minister. It began with a sentence of 
invocation, followed by an invitation to prayer, and a 
general confession of sins. The congregation rose with 
the words of invocation, and remained standing during 
prayer, but resumed their seats when the psalm was given 
out for singing. This was the people's part — the service 
of song — in a ritual without other audible response ; and 
all the Huguenot fervour broke out in those strains that 
had for generations expressed the faith and the religious 
joy of a persecuted race. A brief extempore prayer pre- 
ceded the sermon. They closed with the Lord's Prayer 
and the Apostles' Creed, except when the Communion 
was to be administered ; and after the benediction the 
congregation was dismissed with the word of peace, and 
an injunction to remember the poor, as they passed the 



THE FRENCH CHURCH IN BOSTON 163 

alms' cliests at tlie church door. A prominent seat was 
reserved in the chiu'ch for the " anciens " or elders of the 
congregation. These, with the pastor, constituted the 
Consistoire, or Church Session. They were elected by 
the people, holding ofiBce for a term of years, and had en- 
tire charge of the church government, both spiritual and 

material. 

V 

The Earl of Bellomont, while governor of Massachu- Favourable 

Opinion 

setts, in an address to the Greneral Court upon his last 
visit to Boston, thus expressed his opinion of the French 
refugees : "I recommend to your care the French min- 
ister of this town, who is destitute of a maintenance, be- 
cause there are so few families here. Let the present 
raging persecution of the French Protestants in France 
stir up your zeal and compassion towards him. I wish 
for yom- sakes the French Protestants had been encour- 
aged among you. They are a good sort of people, very 
ingenious, industrious, and would have been of great use 
for peopling this country, and enriching it by trade." 
Perhaps stimulated by this interest, the French Protes- 
tants in Boston presented a petition to him and to the 
general cornet for aid in the support of the gospel ministry 
among them. They " take leave to signifie that many of 
their flock being already gone away who contributed 
much for the subsistence of their minister, the few that 
remain are not capable of furnishing the one-half that is 
necessary, and they must undergo the unhappyness of 
being deprived of the consolation of the holy ministry of Petition for 
the word of God (whereof the unheard-of cruelty of the 
persecutors of the church had deprived them in their own 
country) unless they may obtain your Christian assist- 
ance." The petitioners also state that they have "borne 
great charges in paying taxes for the poor of New Ox- 
ford, who by occasion of the war withdrew themselves, 
and since that they have assisted many who returned to 
Oxford in order to their resettlement." 



Aid 



164 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Slender Sup- 
port 



Tomb in Old 
Granary 



His Will 



This petition was referred to a committee, wliich re- 
ported that ''for their encouragement as strangers and 
for the carrying on the publick worship of God amongst 
them there be paid unto their minister twelve punds 
of the publick treasiu"y." This report was passed by 
both branches of the General Coui't, and so far as recorded 
was the only grant from the public funds. 

The support was so slender that Mr. Daille sometimes 
questioned whether he could remain ; but he lived up to 
his own declaration that " A minister must use every ex- 
pedient before deserting his flock." Among these expe- 
dients was an appeal to the English Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; an appeal 
that was seconded by Governor Dudley, who spoke of 
him as "an honest man and good preacher," who in the 
governor's belief had not more than thirty pounds per 
annum to live upon. The society declined, on the ground 
that the French church did not belong to the Anglican 
communion, and the pastor laboured on till his death, 
May 20, 1715, in his sixty-seventh year. 

No minister of the early colonial days did more honoui- 
to his calling than the learned and devoted Pierre Daille, 
whose tombstone may be seen in the Old Granary Buiy- 
ing Ground. And however inadequate his salary, with 
the characteristic thrift of his people, this good man in 
some way managed to save up enough to be able to leave 
some cousiderable bequests in his will. His first remem- 
brance was for the church and its ministers. He gave all 
his French and Latin books — at a time when such books 
were of great value — to the church for the use of its min- 
isters. He remembered their necessities, besides, by giv- 
ing one hundred pounds to be let out at interest for the 
help and support of the minister ; and he bequeathed 
ten pounds towards the erection of the meeting house 
for which he had longed. For the rest he gave three 
hundred and fifty pounds in province bills or silver 
equivalent thereto, and his negro man-servant named 



THE FRENCH CHURCH IN BOSTON 165 

Kuffy and all his ' ' plate, cloaths, household goods and 
furniture, ' ' to his ' ' loving wife, Martha, ' ' who was his 
third wife ; the residue of his estate going to his brother 
Paul in Holland. In saving as in spirituality this 
French apostle set a worthy example to his brethren 
in the ministry. His character may be read as through 
an open window in a sentence in one of his private 
letters: "I have always determined to injure no one his Motto 
by my words or otherwise, but on the contrary to serve 
whomsoever I mighty be able to serve." 



VI 

The French Church in Boston was to have but one 
more pastor, who was settled before many months. A 
call was given to Andre Le Mercier, a young man lately Pastor 

,iT <.^ -■ Le Mercier 

graduated from the Academy ot Geneva, and recom- from Geneva 
mended highly by the church authorities there, who took 
a paternal interest in the Calvinistic churches in America. 
A salary of one hundred pounds was offered him, the 
arrangement being made by Andrew Faneuil, indicating 
that the congregation was more prosperous than hitherto. 
Leaders in it were Andrew Faneuil, James Bowdoin, 
Daniel Johonnot, and Andrew Sigourney, each of whom 
at his death left a generous bequest to the pastor. This 
may perhaps explain in part the amount saved by Mr. 
Daille, though such bequests to him are not a matter of 
record. Soon after the coming of the new minister the 
"meeting house" was built, diagonally opposite the 
Latin School on School Street. This pastorate continued 
thirty-four years. While not so brilliant a preacher as Thirty-four 
Daille, Le Mercier was pious and earnest and a diligent ate 
worker in various fields. Two books from his pen are 
extant: a "History of the Church and Republic of 
Geneva," and a "Treatise Against Detraction." He 
busied himself in the improvement of agriculture in Mas- 
sachusetts, and was very zealous in humane endeavours 
to preserve the lives of seamen shipwrecked upon the 



166 THE FEENCH BLOOD IK AMEEICA 



Originator of 

Life-Saving 

Service 



Sable Island 



Dissolving 
Church 



End in 1748 



dangerous coast of Nova Scotia. In 1738 he petitioned 
the governor and council of Kova Scotia for a grant of 
the Sable Island, off that coast, that he might erect build- 
ings thereon and stock the island with such domestic 
animals as might be useful in preserving the lives of 
escaped mariners. The grant was made, and the colonial 
governments of Kova Scotia and Massachusetts issued 
proclamations warning all persons against destroying or 
removing the improvements made by the proprietor of 
the island. It is said that many lives were saved by this 
humane enterprise, which in a sense was the origin of the 
life-saving coast service of to-day. Sable Island has con- 
tinued to be the scene of frequent shipwrecks, and at 
present the noble work begun by the Huguenot pastor of 
Boston is carried on by government at an expense of four 
thousand dollars yearly, maintaining a force of men 
furnished with provisions and appliances for the relief 
of shipwrecked sailors. Let it not be forgotten that the 
sailors owe a debt of gratitude to Andre Le Mercier, the 
refugee minister of Boston. 

That the membership of the French Church decreased 
under his ministry is not to be attributed chiefly to any 
lack in him either as preacher or pastor, but rather to 
the aptitude of the French for assimilation. The chil- 
dren became proficient in the English language, and 
through their associations were led naturally to favour 
the American churches. The tendency was irresistible, 
and when the young people were "driven to other 
churches" (a charge laid against Le Mercier with prob- 
ably scant justice) it was only a question of time when 
the French Church should cease to exist. This time came 
in 1748, when the membership had become reduced to a 
mere handful. Through intermarriage the leading French 
families had formed close interests in such churches as 
Trinity and King's Chapel, the Faneuils becoming prom- 
inent supporters of the latter. On the dissolution of the 
French Church the meeting house passed into possession 



THE FEENCH CHUECH IN BOSTON 167 

of a new Congregational society, with the proviso that 
the building was to be preserved for the sole use of a 
Protestant sanctuary forever. How little human pro- 
visions can control is shown by the fact that, in spite of 
the condition of sale, forty years later the Huguenot 
''temple" was sold to the Eoman Catholics, and mass 
was said within its walls by a Eomish priest November 
2, 1788. As for Le Mercier, he lived for sixteen years 
after the dissolution of the church, spending his last days 
upon an estate which he had piu-chased in Dorchester, 
Massachusetts, where he died March 31, 1764. 

During Daille's pastorate the church received a present Queen Anne 
of a Bible from Queen Anne for pulpit use. This Bible 
was highly esteemed and continued in use until the 
church dissolved, when it passed into possession of Eev. 
Mather Byles, first pastor of the Hollis Street Congrega- 
tional Church, whose library was subsequently sold, the 
Bible going to Mr, E. Cobb, by whose widow it was pre- 
sented in 1831 to the Divinity Library of Harvard Uni- 
versity, where it is now carefully preserved. The book 
is in a very good state of preservation ; contains a few 
illustrations and maps, and the Apocrypha ; and was 
printed in Amsterdam by the Elzeviers in 1669. 




The Rivoires 



Early Life 



Artist En- 
graver 



P 



CHAPTEE VI 

PAUL EEVERE 

J AXIL REVERE, born in Boston on January 8, 
1735, was descended from an honourable Huguenot 
family — the Rivoires of Romagnieu. His father, 
Apollos Rivoire, came to Boston from the Island of 
Guernsey, when he was a lad of thirteen, and was set to 
learn the goldsmith's trade as apprentice to John Coney. 
After he had established himself in the business of a gold 
and silversmith, he married Deborah Hichborn ; and the 
third child of this union was Paul Revere, craftsman, 
artist and patriot. 

Revere received his education at the famous old '^ North 
Grammar School," which stood on North Bennett Street. 
After leaving school he entered his father's shop as an 
apprentice. He possessed a natural taste for drawing, 
and became very skillful in the use of the graver ; exe- 
cuting most of the embellishments on the silverware then 
manufactured in Boston. Many are the cups, spoons, 
mugs, pitchers, tankards, and other articles of beautiful 
patterns, made by him, and still owned by our New Eng- 
land families ; some are now in every day use ; all are 
treasured relics. If not as famous or gifted as Cellini, 
abundant monuments remain to prove that Revere was 
also an artist, as praiseworthy for the beauty and grace 
of his artistic creations as for their excellent handiwork. 
Long practice in the successful embellishment of silver- 
ware caused him to learn the art of engraving on copper- 
plate, entirely self-taught ; and numerous specimens of 
his handiwork in this line are still in existence, treasured 
memorials of a skillful and patriotic hand. Many of his 
pictures were political caricatures, and engravings of his- 

168 




PAUL REVERE, Portrait by Gilbert Stuart 



PAUL EEVEEE 169 

toric scenes closely connected with the struggle for Inde- 
pendence. 

But Revere was not wholly satisfied with leading a life Beginning of 

TT 1 1 ,. ,. l^'s Military 

of quiet prosperity. He longed for a taste of military life, career 
and obtained his desire by joining the second expedition 
against Crown Point— serving through the campaign as a 
lieutenant of artillery. On his return to civil life he mar- 
ried Miss Sarah Orne and settled down to his trade. 
From thence on he devoted considerable of his time to en- 
graving, and his art was immensely popular during the 
years preceding the Revolution. His bold attempts at Popular as a 
copperplate engraving are rude enough to be sure ; but 
they were considered good at the time, and were vastly 
better than nothing. His keen sense of humour found con- 
genial employment in the caricatures of political events 
which issued from his shop and obtained a wide popular- 
ity. His art was always used in favour of the jjeople, of 
the masses ; he was quick at perceiving the striking 
features of the hour ; and his ready genius to portray 
them made him the ' ' offhand artist of many caricatures 
intended to bring ridicule upon the enemy, and the author 
of various sketches of interesting scenes of which he was 
an eye-witness." 

Revere' s patriotic services began in 1765, when he be- 
came one of the first members of the famous ''Sons of sons of 
Liberty" — an organization which soon became famous '^'■y^^s 
for its intimidation of the stamp -distributors and its keen 
opposition to any enforcement of the hated Stamp Act. 
He was likewise an active member of "Long Room 
Club" and the "J^^o^th End Caucus"— the latter being 
the association which gave birth to "The Boston Tea- Boston Tea 
Party." Revere became the confidential messenger of ^^^^ 
the patriots and travelled thousands of miles on horseback, 
dui'ing troublous times, when railroads and steamboats 
were unknown. During all these years he had a large 
family to support ; yet he was so constituted as to find Ardent Patriot 
sufficient leisure to interest himself in all the matters 



The Midnight 
Ride 



170 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

pertaining to the public good, watching closely the 
course of political events in the pre- revolutionary 
days. "With well-considered, settled opinions, his will 
was strong ; while his general gifts rendered him com- 
petent to great emergencies, and equal to great events. 
The result was, that in a crisis like that of rousing the 
people to conflict on the eve of the first struggle for our 
Independence, he was the wise counsellor at home, and 
the daring actor in the field." 

Eevere took many rides in the service of the Eevolu- 
tionary party, but most famous of them all was the ride 
on the night of the 18th of April, 1775 — ''the most im- 
portant single exploit in our nation's annals." Long- 
fellow's account is known throughout the land ; and there- 
fore the insertion of the following extracts from Eevere' s 
own version of the affair is made at the risk of repeating 
a well-known story : 



Revere's 

Telling of the 
Story 



April i8, 1775 
Committee on 
Watch 



The Lantern 
Signals 



In the fall of 1774, and winter of 1775, I was one of upwards of 
thirty, chiefly mechanics, who formed ourselves into a committee for the 
purpose of watching the movements of the British soldiers, and gain- 
ing every intelligence of the movements of the Tories. We held our 
meetings at the Green Dragon Tavern. We were so careful that our 
meetings should be kept secret, that every time we met, every person 
swore upon the Bible that they would not discover any of our trans- 
actions but to Messrs. Hancock, Adams, and one or two more. . . . 
In the winter, towards the spring, we frequently took turns, two by 
two, to watch the soldiers, by patrolling the streets all night. The 
Saturday night preceding the 19th of April, about twelve o'clock at 
night, the boats belonging to the transports were all launched, and 
carried under the sterns of the men-of-war. We likewise found that 
the grenadiers and light infantry were all taken off duty. From these 
movements we expected something serious was to be transacted. 
. . . I agreed with a Colonel Conant and some other gentlemen^ 
that if the British went out by water, we would show two lanterns in 
the North Church steeple; and if by land, one as a signal; for we were 
apprehensive it would be difficult to cross Charles River, or get over 
Boston Neck. ... I then went home, took my boots and surtout, 
went to the north part of the town, where I kept a boat ; two friends 
rowed me across Charles River a little to the eastward where the 



PAUL REVEEE 



171 



Deacon 
Larkin 



Meeting 

British 

Officers 



Sounding the 
Alarm 



Somerset man-of-war lay. It was then young flood, the ship was wind- 
ing, and the moon was rising. 

They landed me on the Charlestown side. When I got into town, I Getting Ready 
met Colonel Couant and several others ; they said they had seen our 
signals. I told them what was acting, and went to get me a horse ; I 
got a horse of Deacon Larkin. While the horse was preparing, Richard 
Devens, Esq., who was one of the Committee of Safety, came to me, 
and told me that he came down the road from Lexington, after sun- 
down, that evening ; that he met ten British officers, all well mounted 
and armed, going up the road. 

I set off upon a very good horse ; it was then about eleven o'clock 
and very pleasant. After I had passed Charlestown Neck, and got 
nearly opposite where Mark was hung in chains, I saw two men on 
horseback, under a tree. When I got near them, I discovered they 
were British oflicers. One tried to get ahead of me, and the other to 
take me. I turned my horse very quick, and galloped towards Charles- 
town Neck, and then pushed for the Medford road. The one who 
chased me, endeavouring to cut me off, got into a clay pond, near where 
the new tavern is now built. I got clear of him, and went through 
Medford, over the bridge, and up to Menotomy. In Medford I waked 
the Captain of the minute men ; and after that, I alarmed almost 
every house till I got to Lexington. 

At Lexington he gave the alarm to John Hancock and 
Samuel Adams, and then pressed on towards Concord 
''to secure the stores, etc., there." On his way, how- 
ever, he met with some British officers ; " in an instant I 
was surrounded by four ; — they had placed themselves in 
a straight road, that inclined each way ; they had taken 
down a pair of bars on the north side of the road, aud two 
of them were under a tree in the pasture. ... I ob- 
served a wood at a small distance, aud made for that. 
When I got there, out started six officers, on horseback, 
and ordered me dismount." And thus the "midnight 
ride of Paul Revere ' ' came to an untimely end. 

During the war Revere served his country in a dual 
capacity — as a Colonel in the Massachusetts artillery, and 
as a producer of gunpowder and cannon. In the capacity 
of Colonel, he had active command of the defenses of 
Boston harbour until he resigned from the service in 1779. 
As a manufacturer he was sent to Philadelphia by the 



Stopped by 
the Enemy 



Colonel and 
Powder Maker 



172 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Successful 
Manufacturer 



Mechanics' 
Association 
1795 



Death in x8i8 



Council to gain a knowledge of powder making in order 
that the colony might make its own ammunition ; and he 
also was engaged to oversee the casting of cannon. He 
found time, meanwhile, to engrave and print the Massa- 
chusetts colony notes, and make dies for coins. 

After the war Revere launched out into new enter- 
prises, the most important of which was the establishment 
of a foundry where he undertook the casting of cannon, 
ironware and church bells. He perfected a process of 
preparing copper for use in bolts and spikes, etc., for 
naval purposes, and furnished the sheathing and fittings 
for Old Ironsides, and many another gallant vessel. 
His business prospered greatly, as his foundry was the 
only one in the country which could turn out sheet cop- 
per. It is interesting to note that he furnished the cop- 
per boilers for Robert Fulton's Hudson River steamboats. 

A lasting monument to the ruling passion of his life is 
the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association 
which, chiefly through his instrumentality, was formed in 
1795. He was its first president, and continued in that 
office until 1799, when he declined re-election, although 
his interest in its affairs was undiminished and his counsel 
its main dependence. 

Revere died on May 10, 1818, at the age of eighty-three 
years. His body was placed in the Granary Burial 
Ground near that of his fellow Huguenot, Peter Faneuil, 
almost under the shadow of the State House whose cor- 
ner-stone he helped to set and whose significance he had 
laboured to establish. It is pleasant to know that the last 
years of his useful, self-sacrificing life were passed in 
prosperity, and in the esteem and love of his countrymen. 
He was a fine type of the highly skilled artisan class 
which formed so large a part of the Huguenot emigration. 
He was equallj^ a true representative of the Huguenots in 
his sturdy patriotism and devotion to the right as he saw 
it. He was a zealous and honoured member of the Ma- 
sonic fraternity in Boston, as appears elsewhere. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE FANEUIL FAIiIILY 

I 

ONE of the foremost families of these early settlers Benjamin 
from France was that of Faueuil — name indissol- 
ubly associated with Boston. In a list of the 
French nationality admitted into the Bay Colony by the 
Governor and Council, on February 1, 1691, are the 
names of Benjamin, John and Andrew Faneuil. As 
these brothers were among the refugees who were fortu- 
nate in bringing property with them to this country, it is 
probable that Benjamin had a financial interest in both 
of the Huguenot settlements — that at Oxford, Massachu- 
setts, and at New Rochelle, New York, as his name ap- 
pears in connection with them. When the Oxford enter- 
prise was giv^en up, after a ten years' struggle with 
hardship and Indians, Benjamin Faneuil chose New 
York for his residence, and established a home there, 
marrying one Anne Bureau, a French lady of that place. 
On a horizontal slab in Trinity churchyard. New York, 
is the inscription: ''Here lies buried the body of Mr. 
Benjamin Faneuil of the city of Rochelle, France, who 
died the 31st of March, 1719, aged 60 years and 8 
months." 

Andrew Faneuil, brother of Benjamin, was one of the 
most prominent members of the Huguenot colony in Andrew 
Boston, and a leader in the organization of the French 
Protestant Church. He escaped from France and lived 
for a time in Holland, where he was married. This 
record is preserved : ' ' The death of Mrs. Mary Cather- 
ine, wife of Mr. Andrew Faneuil, occurred in Boston, 

173 



Faneuil 



174 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Citizen in 1691 



His Fine 
Mansion 



Nephew 
Benjamin 
Loses a For- 
tune 



July 16, 1724, a gentlewoman of extraordinary perfections 
both in mind and body." A portrait, representing her 
as a beautiful woman, was brought to America and treas- 
ured in the family. The exact date of their coming is not 
known, but Andrew's name appears on the tax list in 
1691, and it is plain that he was a man of affairs in the 
town at that time. Like his brother, he was doubtless 
one of those fortunate Huguenots who, having an estate 
in France, had been able to take a goodly portion with 
him when he left his native land, and had not come 
empty handed to Boston. It is evident that he made an 
early investment in the city, for in a petition dated Feb- 
ruary 20, 1709, to build a wharf from the bottom of King 
(now State) Street to low water mark, it is described as 
''of the width of King Street, between Mr. East Ap- 
thorp's and Mr. Andrew Faneiol's." He was soon well 
established in a lucrative business, and the owner of large 
real estate interests. His warehouse was on Butler Square, 
out of State Street, and his mansion, one of the finest in 
the city, surrounded by seven acres of admirably kept 
gardens, was on Tremont Street, opposite King's Chapel 
Bui'yiug Ground. 

II 

Andrew Faneuil was a positive, peculiar and interest- 
ing character. He did not remarry, though he kept up 
his stately establishment, and had black and white serv- 
ants in plenty. His brother Benjamin of I*lew York had 
a family of eleven children, and Andrew undertook the 
care of three of them — Benjamin and Peter, the oldest 
sons, and Mary Anne, their sister. He chose Benjamin, 
his nephew, for his heir, on the one freakish condition 
that the young man should never marry. Benjamin 
agreed, and the relations went on harmoniously enough 
until a certain Miss Mary Cutler, a young lady of many 
personal attractions, educated, refined, and a poetess to 
boot, led the nephew to choose expulsion from his home, 
with his love, just as the uncle preferred exile with 



THE FANEUIL FAMILY 175 

religions liberty to France and spiritnal enslavement. 
Andrew was inflexible, and turned to Benjamin's brother, 
Peter, as his hope for a worthy heir and representative. 
Peter was without matrimonial inclinations and accepted Nephew Peter 
the terms, becoming heir presumptive in his turn, and becomes Heir 
likewise the business partner of his uncle. The ousted 
Benjamin, who had gone into business on his own ac- 
count, was prospering, and all three Faneuils were happy 
and highly respected, and becoming rich and influential 
as the result of ability, integrity, and that sturdy quality 
of conscience that compels recognition. Three of the 
New York Benjamin's daughters had meanwhile married 
Boston citizens — a clergyman, a lawyer, and a prosperous 
merchant — so that the Faneuil family was well established 
in the business and social life of Boston. 

Andrew Faneuil died in February, 1738, and the mag- a Great 
nificence of his funeral gave evidence of the position he 1738 
had attained in the city. The newspaper report says, 
''Last Monday the corpse of Andrew Faneuil, Esquire, 
whose death we mentioned in our last, was honourable 
interred here, above 1,100 persons of all Banks, beside 
the Mourners, following the Corpse, also a vast number of 
spectators were gathered together on the Occasion, at 
which time the half-minute guns from on board several 
vessels were discharged. And 'tis supposed that as the 
Gentleman's fortune was the greatest of any among us, 
so his funeral was the most generous and expensive of 
any that has been known here." 

Peter Faneuil saw to it that every propriety was ob- 
served, and three thousand pairs of mourning gloves were 
distributed to the friends in attendance, while two hun- 
dred mourning rings were given to the nearer friends of 
the family. The business and estate now fell to Peter. 
In his will, however, Andrew proved his devotion to his 
faith by first of all leaving his warehouse in trust for the 
support of the ministers and elders of the French church 
in Boston, which he had staunchly supported. If the 



176 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

church should cease to be, as he foresaw it might through 
the intermarriage of the Huguenot with the Puritan ele- 
ment, the warehouse was to revert to his heirs. 



Boston's 

Wealthiest 

Merchant 



Peter 
Described 



A Good Liver 



Generous and 
Just 



III 

How much property Andrew Faneuil left was not an- 
nounced, but it was commonly understood that he was 
the wealthiest merchant in the province, and Peter now 
succeeded to that proud position. He was thirty-eight 
years old when he became the " topiniest merchant in the 
town," as Thomas Hancock put it. He was corpulent, 
with large, well-rounded features, had a genial disposi- 
tion, and ambitions and tastes in keeping with his for- 
tune. He was fond of display and good living, and his 
home was the scene of open-handed hospitality. He or- 
dered from London a "handsome chariot with two sets 
of harness, with the arms as inclosed in the same in the 
handsomest manner that you shall judge proper, but at 
the same time nothing gaudy," and ordered also "two 
sober men, the one for a coachman, the other for a gar- 
dener ; and as most servants from Europe are apt when 
here to be debauched with strong drink, rum, etc., being 
very plenty, I pray your particular care in this article." 
He sends for the " latest best book of the several sorts of 
cookery, which pray let be of the largest character for the 
benefit of the maid's reading." He refurnishes and re- 
stocks the mansion, and among other new articles, buys 
for house use "as likely a strait negro lad" as could be 
found, " of a tractable disposition and one that had had 
the smallpox." 

With the waning of the French church, Peter Faneuil 
became a worshipper at Trinity church, of which his 
brother-in-law, the Rev. Addington Davenport, was rec- 
tor. In one of his orders from London is this item : 
"Purchase for me 1 handsome, large, octavo Common 
Prayer Book of a good letter, and well bound, with one 
of the same in French for my own use." Thus the mother 



THE FANEUIL FAMILY 177 

tongue remained dear to liim. He was one of the early 
members of the Episcopal Charitable Society, and gave a 
large sum to Trinity church to support the families of the 
deceased clergy. Indeed, every charity of the time had 
his name on its subscription list for a generous sum. 
While Peter Faneuil was liberal to all good objects, he 
was scrupulous in his business transactions, and expected 
to be dealt with justly, in the same spirit in which he 
dealt with others. He did not like to be wronged out of 
any amount, however small, as the following extract from 
his correspondence shows: "I have been very much 
surprised that ever since the death of Captain Allen, you 
have not advised me of the sale of a horse belonging to 
my deceased uncle, left in your hands by him, which I 
am informed you sold for a very good price, and I am 
now to request the favour you would send me the net 
proceeds in sweetmeats and citron water, your compli- 
ance with which will stop me from giving some of my 
friends the trouble of calling you to an account there. I 
shall be glad to know if Captain Allen did not leave 
a silver watch and some fish, belonging to a servant of 
mine, with some person of your island, and with who"? 
I expect your speedy answer." 

As Mr. Brown, the biographer of the family, puts it, 
' ' While giving a pound with one hand, he was holding 
the other for a penny that was justly his. ' ' Some branches 
of his business, although endorsed by the trade and so- 
ciety of his time as perfectly legitimate, would be found 
wanting if weighed in the balance of modern commercial 
integrity — from which we may see that, after all, the 
standards have been raised instead of lowered, as is often 
intimated by those pessimistically inclined. Trading with 
so many ports, he received all kinds of merchandise, 
wines and other liquors seeming to predominate, while 
occasionally a negro slave was consigned to him. He 
lived up to his conscience, however, for he writes to one 
correspondent : "I would have you know that I am not 



178 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Slave Trade 



The Jolly 
Bachelor 



SO fond of a commission as to go a begging for it, or 
to do any base thing to attain it. I bless God I have 
fortune enough to support myself without doing any 
base action." The products of the fisheries, with to- 
bacco, tar and staves, made up the burden of his out- 
going cargoes. He built sailing vessels for his own trade 
and for others, and in addition to his trade with foreign 
ports he carried on an extensive commerce with New 
York and Philadelphia. The whole commercial world 
rated Peter Faneuil as a responsible merchant, and he 
never wanted for business. 

The slave trade was then not disreputable, and Peter 
Faneuil, like his contemporaries, was often found en- 
gaged in it. "The merchants of Boston quoted negroes 
like any other merchandise demanded by their cor- 
respondents." He also did not think it wrong on occa- 
sion to evade the duties of the custom-house, though he 
was honest in his declaration, "I value my character 
more than all the money on earth." He simply shared 
what may be called a common commercial conscience of 
the times, which ever counted government as a lawful 
prey, and accounted smuggling as skillful rather than 
dishonest. 

Peter Faneuil became known in his circle of intimates 
as the "Jolly Bachelor," which name he gave to one of 
his ships. His sister Mary Anne looked out for the care 
of the household and presided with grace over his estab- 
lishment. It is certain, however, that he had his love 
affair, and that if a certain Miss Mary Jekyll had not ac- 
cepted a Mr. Richard Saltonstall instead, she might have 
found a husband in Mr. Peter Faneuil. After this break 
in his desire for a single life, he had no second, so far as 
is known, and his sister remained mistress of the fine 
mansion and generally desirable situation. 



IV 
With all his love of display and good living, Peter 



THE FANEUIL FAMILY 179 

Faneuil was a public-spirited citizen. While engrossed 
in the cares of extensive business, he had vital inter- paneuii Haii 
est in the welfare of his neighbours and friends and 
in the future good of the town of Boston. From his own 
experience he realized the disadvantages under which 
trade was conducted without a local market. He desired 
improvement in this direction, and was finally led to test 
the public sentiment, which had been strangely an- 
tagonistic to the establishment of a public market, by 
making a proposition which is set forth in a petition, 
sent to the selectmen with the signatures of three hundred 
and forty prominent citizens attached. The petition de- 
clared that Peter Faneuil, Esq., "hath been generously 
pleased to offer at his own cost and charge to erect and 
build a noble and complete structure or edifice to be im- 
proved for a market, for the sole use, benefit and ad- 
vantage of the town, provided that the town of Boston 
would pass a vote for that purjjose, and lay the same un- 
der such proper regulations as shall be thought necessary, 
and constantly support it for the said use." So the war- 
rant for the town meeting was posted, and the matter was 
discussed pro and con, for there was a great division 
of opinion. There were seven hundred and twenty- 
seven ballots cast, and the yeas won by only seven votes. 
Thus near did Boston come to losing Faneuil Hall and 
the "cradle of liberty." But Peter FaneuiPs plans in- The cradie of 
eluded a public meeting hall in addition to a market, ' ^^ ^ *^^* 
and it was due to him that the people had a forum. In 
August, 1742, after two years spent upon the work, the 
selectmen were informed that the market was finished, 
and on September 10, the keys were delivered to the city 
authorities. There had been a great change in public 
opinion, and now the citizens unanimously voted to "ac- 
cept this most generous and noble benefaction for the use 
and intention they are designed for." 

The name came from no initiative of Peter Faneuil, but source of the 
from an outside source. The records show that it was ^^""^ 



180 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

voted, on motion of Thomas Hutchinson, later royal 
governor, ''that in testimony of the town's gratitude to 
the said Peter Faneuil, Esq., and to perpetuate his memory, 
the hall over the market place be named Faneuil Hall." 
In response Mr. Faneuil said, ' ' I hope what I have done 
will be for the service of the whole country." Little did 
he realize how true a prophecy his words were. And in 
this way this French Protestant, whose father came to 
America as a refugee on account of his religious convic- 
tions, wrote his name indelibly on the pages of American 
history. By vote his picture was drawn at full length at 
the expense of the town, and placed in the hall ; and the 
Faneuil coat-of-arms, so much prized by the merchant, 
was carved and gilded by Moses Deshon, bought by the 
town and likewise set up in the hall. The selectmen im- 
mediately began to meet in the new and more comfortable 
quarters provided for them, and selected one of their 
number to purchase ' ' two pairs of brass candlesticks with 
steel snuffers, and a poker for the town's use." The 
house given by Peter Faneuil was regarded as the greatest 
munificence the town of Boston had received. It was 
built of brick, two stories high, and in comparison with 
other buildings in the vicinity of Dock Square presented 
a commanding appearance. With the exception of the 
old State House, all the buildings that surrounded Faneuil 
Hall have been replaced. But Faneuil Hall ' ' stands and 
will remain as long as the power of patriotic citizens can 
retain it. The force of sentiment is seen in its preserva- 
tion ; and many generations yet unborn will early learn to 
cherish this New England forum." The power of the 
sentiment of religion that led the Huguenots to America 
is akin to the sentiment of patriotism that made them of 
so much good to the new world. 
History of As for the history of Faneuil Hall, it can only be said 

here that it was burned in the destructive fire of January 
13, 1761 ; was rebuilt by money secured by a lottery, the 
tickets being signed by John Hancock ; was enlarged and 



Faneuil Hall 



THE FANEUIL FAMILY 



181 



inucb altered iu appearance iu 1805-6 under direction of 
Charles Bulfinch, who designed the State House on 
Beacon Hill ; and in 1898 was practically rebuilt with 
steel walls, though the Bulfinch appearance was retained 
outside and within. While only a small portion of the 
original hall given by Peter Faneuil remains, it is still 
Faneuil Hall, with all its sacred associations. In the 
words of Lafayette, the great Frenchman who did so 
much for America in a critical period, and whose sympa- 
thies were with the Huguenots, "May Faneuil Hall ever words of 
stand, a monument to teach the world that resistance to ^ ^^^ 
oppression is a duty, and will under true republican in- 
stitutions become a blessing." 



Peter Faneuil died the next year after his market and 
hall had been given to Boston, March 3, 1743. The Death 1743 
market bell was tolled from one o'clock until the funeral 
was over, by town order, and every honour was paid to 
his memory. According to the obituary in the News 
Letter, " he was a most generous spirit, whose hospitality 
to all and secret unbounded charity to the poor, made his 
life a public blessing, and his death a general loss to, and 
universally regretted by, the inhabitants ; the most public- 
spirited man, in all regards, that ever yet appeared on the 
northern continent of America." In addition to a great Man of Public 
funeral there was a public memorial service. From Will- ^"^'* 
iam Nadir's Almanac, under date of March 10, 1743, this 
extract is taken : "Thursday 10, buried Peter Faneuil, 
Esq., iu the 43d year of age, a fat, corpulent, brown, 
squat man, hip short, lame from childhood, a very large 
funeral went around ye Town house ; gave us gloves at ye 
funeral, but sent ye gloves on 11 day, his Coffin covered 
with black velvet, & plated with yellow plates. ' ' 

John Lovell, master of the Boston Latin School, de- 
livered the funeral oration at the memorial service held in 
Faneuil HaU, and this was the beginning of such services 



182 THE FEENCH BLOOD m AMEEICA 

Loveii's there. A single quotation must suffice : "It was to him 

Eulogy 

the highest enjoyment of riches, to relieve the wants of 
the needy, from which he was himself exempted, to see 
mankind rejoicing in the fruits of his bounty, and to feel 
that divine satisfaction which results from communicat- 
ing happiness to others. His alms flowed like a fruitful 
river, that diffuses its streams through a whole country. 
He fed the hungry, and he cloathed the naked, he com- 
forted the fatherless and the widows in their afliction, 
and his bounties visited the prisoner. So that Almighty 
God in giving riches to this man, seems to have scattered 
blessings all abroad among the people." 

From this common testimony as to his charity, he must 
have been entitled to large praise as a benefactor of the 
needy. He failed to make a will, and the estate which 
his uncle expressly withheld from his brother Benjamin 
now came into the custody of that individual, and a good 
share of it into his possession. The estate was soon scat- 
The Faneuii tercd. The Faneuils during the Eevolutionary days were 
among the Tories, and fled either to England or Nova 
Scotia. The Faneuii tomb is in the westerly corner of the 
Granary Burying Ground, After the Eevolution, the 
family played an unimportant part in the life of Boston ; 
but Andrew and Peter Faneuii will ever be among the 
noted names of the Huguenot settlers in the new world. 
They represented in many respects the best traits of the 
Huguenot character, and show what splendid material 
France lost through her misguided policy. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE BOWDOINS, DANAS, AXD OTHER 
FAMILIES 



JAMES BOWDOIN, elder son of Pierre Baudouin the TheBowdoina 
emigrant, was born in 1676. He became a highly ^^'^ 
successful Boston merchant, was for a number of 
years a member of the Massachusetts council, and when 
he died, in 1747, was accounted to have left the largest 
estate ever owned by any citizen of the ijrovince. 

His son, James, was born in Boston in 1727 and was james Bow- 
graduated fi^om Harvard in 1745. By the death of his "^"'^ scientist 
father two years later he came into possession of the great 
estate, and for the next few years devoted himself to the 
care of his property and to scientific and literary studies. 
When he was twenty-four years old he paid a visit to 
Benjamin Franklin, with whom he afterwards corre- 
sponded to such good purpose that Franklin read his let- 
ters before the Royal Society of London. It is interest- 
ing to note that in one of these letters Bowdoin suggested 
the theory, now generally acce]3ted, that under certain 
conditions the phosphorescence of the sea is due to the 
presence of minute animals. During his entire life he 
was greatly interested in natural science, and it is highly 
probable that he would have made still more valuable 
contributions to knowledge if patriotism and ill health 
had not cut short his studies. But although suffering 
from consumption for many years, he nevertheless threw 
himself with ardour into the turbulent political life of the 
day. 
His public career began with his election to the Massa- 

183 



184 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Public 

Servant 



Defender of 
Liberty 



President 
Convention of 
1779 



American 
Academy 



chiisetts General Court when he was twenty-six years old. 
His ability soon asserted itself and three years later he 
was made a member of the council. Here he distinguished 
himself by his firm opposition to the royal governor and 
to the encroachments of the crown upon the popular 
liberty of the colony. His popularity with the people 
became thus solidly intrenched, while the royal oflicers 
both hated and feared him. In 1769 he was again chosen 
as one of the councillors and was promptly negatived by 
Governor Bernard. This aroused the resentment of the 
Bostonians, and they showed their feeling by immediately 
electing him to the assembly with an overwhelming 
majority. Sickness alone prevented him from attending 
the Continental Congress to which he was delegated in 
1774, but by the end of the next year he was so far re- 
covered as to be able to act as president of the council. 
The constitutional convention which assembled in 1779 
chose him for its presiding of&cer, and he took prominent 
part in shaping the action of that body. Shortly after 
his election as governor of the state in 1785, he was con- 
fronted by a difficult problem in the shape of Shay's Ee- 
bellion. His firmness and decisive action quelled the 
rapidly growing insurrection without resort to blood- 
shed, though, in taking his prompt measures he was com- 
pelled to pay the expenses of the militia largely out of his 
own pocket. In the words of President Timothy Dwight, 
' ' This measure preserved the State, perhaps the Union, 
and deserved for the author of it a statue." His last 
public service was as a member of the convention that 
adopted the federal constitution in 1788. 

Although most of Governor Bowdoin's rapidly declining 
energies were devoted to politics, he yet found time to aid 
and further many charitable and scientific enterprises. 
He was one of the founders, and the first president, of the 
American Academy of Arts and Letters ; and willed to 
the society his valuable library. He aided in establish- 
ing the Massachusetts Humane Society. For many years 



BOWDOmS, DANAS, AND OTHEE FAMILIES 185 

he was a Trustee and Fellow of Harvard College ; and Patron of 
was a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and couege 
Edinburgh. Bowdoin College has proved a splendid 
memorial to his generosity and interest in the public wel- 
fare. 

His son, James, born in Boston in 1752, was graduated Last of 
from Harvard, travelled extensively abroad, and then re- 
turned to serve in the assembly, state senate and state 
council. He was a delegate to the constitutional conven- 
tion, and in 1804 was appointed minister to Spain. He 
was a man of fine tastes and scholarship and of an ardent 
disposition which was constantly thwarted by physical 
weakness. At the outbreak of the Revolution he had en- 
listed, and it was the keenest regret of his life that sick- 
ness had prevented him from serving. He was a gener- 
ous patron of Bowdoin College, giving it six thousand Bequests to 
acres of land, a large sum of money, and bequeathing it 
his library and collections of painting and scientific ap- 
paratus. He died without issue and "with him the 
name of Bowdoin passed away from the annals of New 
England." 

The excellent Huguenot blood of the Bowdoins persists, 
howe^ er, in the descendants of Governor Thomas L. Win- 
throp, who married Elizabeth Temple, granddaughter of 
Gov. James Bowdoin. The late Robert C. AVinthrop, 
lawyer and statesman, was thus a great-grandson of James 
Bowdoin. 

n 

The sole ancestor of the Dana family in America was The Dana 
Richard Dana, who came to Cambridge, Mass., in 1640. 
The only record of the name in England is that of the 
Rev. Edmund Dana, a great-grandson of Richard, who 
went to England from America in 1761. According to 
the traditions of the family, Richard's father was a 
Huguenot who fled from France and settled in England 
about 1629. One of Richard's descendants, Judah Dana, 
is said to have had a silver cup which had once been 



Family 1640 



186 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Richard Dana 
Patriot 



Resisting the 
Stamp Act 



Francis 1743 



Public Spirit 
and Service 



among the belongings which the refugee had carried with 
him out of France. In view of the fact that the name 
does not occur in England, and that no documentary 
proof has come to light, the family tradition must be ac- 
cepted. 

Among Eichard Dana's numerous descendants there 
have been many men of eminence. It will be possible to 
mention only a few of them here. Eichard Dana, grand- 
son of the emigrant, was born in Cambridge in 1699. He 
was graduated from Harvard in 1718 and practiced law 
in Boston, becoming one of the two acknowledged leaders 
of the bar in that city. He was a staunch patriot and 
took a prominent part in the opposition to British oppres- 
sion. All the offices which lay in the people's gift were 
his if he so desired, but he wished no titles. Between the 
years 1763 and 1772 he called and presided over many 
patriotic meetings of Bostonians. He was one of the first 
members of the Sons of Liberty, and in 1765 acted as 
chairman of the citizen committee which devised ways 
and means to thwart the Stamp Act. His death in 1772 
was felt to be a distinct loss by all the patriots of Massa- 
chusetts. 

His son, Francis, born in 1743, devoted himself to the 
cause of colonial rights. He was a member of the first 
Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. In 1775 he went 
to England with confidential letters bearing on the state 
of feeling in America, in the hope of persuading Parlia- 
ment to retract. A year later he was elected to the ex- 
ecutive council of the colony, and was also sent to the 
Continental Congress, where he became chairman of the 
committee on the reorganization of the army. He was 
one of the embassy which negotiated for peace in 1779. 
In 1780 he was sent as minister to Eussia, remaining there 
in an endeavour to get Eussia to recognize the independ- 
ence of the United States — a task in which he was unsuc- 
cessful. After further service in the Continental Congress 
he became a justice in the Supreme Court of Massa- 



BOWDOINS, DAN AS, AND OTHER FAMILIES 187 

cliiisetts, and was made chief justice in 1791, an office 
which he held until his death, fifteen years later. 

His son, Eichard Henry Dana, was for many years 
closely connected with American literature. He was one Richard 
of the founders of the North American Review, and pub- Author^^"* 
lished poems, stories and essays which made him one of 
the most eminent writers of his day. His son, Richard 
Henry, Jr., will always be remembered as the author of 
that American classic, "Two Years Before the Mast." 

James Dana, born in 1735, was a famous Congrega- Eminent sona 
tional minister. His oldest son, Samuel W., was a 
congressman for thirteen years and a senator for eleven. 
Joseph Dana, a grandson of the emigrant, was also a 
well-known Congregational preacher, retaining his pas- 
torate at Ipswich for sixty-two years. His grandson, 
Israel T., was the leading surgeon of Maine and one of the 
founders of the Maine General Hospital. Judah Dana 
was senator from Maine in 1836, and his sou, John Win- 
chester, was governor of that State in 1847. Samuel L. 
Dana was prominently identified with the progress of 
cotton manufacturing in New England, making many im- 
provements in the methods of printing, bleaching, etc. 
He also contributed to the growth and knowledge of 
scientific agricultiu-e. Charles A. Dana was for many 
years the editor of the New York 8un, making a record in 
American joui^nalism equalled only by Horace Greeley's. 
The works of James Dwight Dana, professor of miner- 
alogy at Yale for forty-five years, are known by every 
geologist throughout the civilized world. 

This remarkable family, with its wide reaching in- 
fluence in professional lines, in public life, in education 
and religion is a signal witness to the value of the 
Huguenot contribution to American life. 

Ill 
Other Immigrants 
About the time that the companies of destitute refugees 



188 THE FREI^CH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Men of Estates were coming into Boston and Salem, other and more 
fortunate Huguenots made their way to New England. 
''Men of estates," as they were referred to in Sewall's 
diary, who had been able to save something from the 
wreck of their fortunes in France, began to seek new 
homes for themselves in the colonies. It has been es- 
timated that one hundred and fifty families came to New 
England during the last decade of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. Such an estimate only approximates the real 
number, for the names of many families were never 
entered on any records that are accessible to the historian, 
and even of those whose names were recorded many 
have always been regarded as of English origin, owing to 
the fact that their French patronymics had become 
anglicized beyond all hope of recognition. 

The following are the names of some of the more im- 
portant refugees who were settled in and near Boston by 
the end of the century : 

Andrew Sigourney, who became the ancestor of a well- 
known New England family, was a citizen of La Rochelle 
at the time of the Revocation. When the time came for 
a squad of dragoons to be quartered in his house Sigour- 
ney and his wife, Charlotte Pairan, decided to hold to 
their faith and make their escape from France. To this 
end they laid their plans carefully, and by making use of 
several ingenious devices they were able to get a portion 
of their property on board a friendly vessel then lying in 
the harbour. The day set for their attempt to escape was 
a holiday which they felt sure the soldiers would wish to 
celebrate. Accordingly they made ready a teinpting 
feast, and while the unsuspecting troopers were in the 
middle of their celebration, the family stole unobserved 
from the house and got aboard the ship, in which they 
were carried safely to England. From England they 
came to Boston in the summer of 1686. 

Daniel Johonnot, nephew of Andrew Sigourney, was a 
member of the Oxford settlement until 1696, when he came 



Andrew 
Sigourney 



Escape from 
France 



Daniel 
Johonnot 



BOWDOINS, DANAS, AND OTHER FAMILIES 189 

to BostOD and set up a distillery. In the year 1700 he 
married his cousin, Suzanne Sigouruey, in the Old South 
Church. His business, which was a prosperous one, was 
carried on successively by his son Andrew and grandson 
of the same name. 

Anthony Olivier (Oliver) was a native of Niort, in ouvier 
Poitou. He settled in Boston shortly after the Revoca- 
tion and engaged in the chandlery trade. His daughter, 
Susanna, married Andrew Johonnot, and the name is 
still found in Boston to-day in the family of George Stuart 
Johonnot Oliver. 

Peter Chardon became one of the richest merchants in chardon 
the town. At the time of the Revocation he was a banker 
in Paris. He fled to England and was naturalized in 
1687, coming to America shortly afterwards. His house, 
a handsome mansion for that day, stood for many years 
at the corner of the street which was named in his honour. 
His son Peter, the last of the family, died in the West 
Indies in 1766. Of him John Adams spoke as being one 
of the few young men of Boston who was on ' ' the direct- 
est road to superiority." 

Paix Cazneau (Casno) was one of the Oxford settlers, cazneau 
Returning to Boston, he went into business as a felt- 
maker and built up a fortune. He was active in trade 
and an influential citizen as late as the year 1738. He 
had a son Isaac and a daughter who married a refugee 
named Adam de Chezeau. 

John Chabot was probably from Bergerac, in Guieune. chabot 
His name is mentioned in 1700 as among the leading 
members of the French Church, who are planning soon to 
leave Boston. From Boston he undoubtedly went to New 
York, for it is recorded that in 1711 a John Chabot sub- 
scribed to the building of Trinity Church steeple. 

Peter Canton, one of the Oxford men, was in Boston as canton 
early as 1692 making rosin in partnership with Gabriel 
Bernou. 

Anthony LeBlond (Blond), a refugee from Normandy, LeBiond 



190 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Rawlings 
Teacher 



Beauchamp 



Boutineau 



was a prosperous chandler iu Bostou before the end of the 
ceutury. His brother James must have been established 
in the town before the year 1690, for in that year his 
wife Ann joined Cotton Mather's Church. James 
was the father of four sous, James, Peter, Gabriel and 
Alexander, and three daughters, Phillippa, Ann and 
Marian. 

John Eawlings probably came to Boston as early as 
1684. In 1683 he was one of the " Euling Elders " of the 
French Church in Southampton, England. His name has 
come down to us as the honoured "French schoolmaster 
in Boston" for a long period of years, and he was a man 
of marked piety and uprightness of life. In 1696 his 
name was recorded as one of the elders of the French 
Church. 

Jean Beauchamp was the son of a Parisian lawyer who 
fled to England and died there in 1688. Jean came to 
Boston the year previous to his father's death. After the 
failure of the Narragansett settlement he became a pros- 
perous leather di^esser and owned a substantial house on 
Washington Street. In 1720 he removed to Hartford, 
Connecticut, where one of his daughters married Allan 
McLean, another married Thomas Elmer, a third became 
the wife of Jean Chenevard, while the fourth married into 
the Laurens (Lawrence) family. 

Louis Allaire, of La Eochelle, a nephew of Gabriel 
Bernon, was the founder of the firm of "Louis Allaire 
and Company," which carried on an extensive trade wdth 
southern ports. A descendant settled in New York and 
founded the Allaire Iron Works ; he was philanthropic 
and established a model working men's village in New 
Jersey, the first settlement of its kind. The enterprise 
was not financially successful, but Allaire, the employer, 
was recognized as a benefactor. 

Stephen Boutineau, a lawyer from La Eochelle, became 
one of the leading French citizens of Boston. He settled 
first in Casco, Maine (now Portland), and came to Boston 



BOWDOIXS, DAN AS, AND OTHEE FAMILIES 191 

iu 1690. lu 1708 he married Mary Baudouin, who bore 
to him six sons aud four daughters. 

A fm-ther list of the refugees includes the names of 
Abraham Tourtellot, who married Marie Beruon ; Peter 
Siguac, who manufactured hats and carried on a trade in 
peltries from Newfoundland ; John Tartarien, of Saint- 
onge ; David Basset, mariner and trader, one of the first 
refugees to make Boston his home ; Dr. Peter Basset, of 
Marennes ; Philip Barger, who died in 1702, leaving a Family 
son Philip ; William Barbut, of Languedoc, who was ad- 
mitted into Massachusetts in 1691, and soon afterwards 
became an elder in the church ; Francis Legare, of Lyons, 
who practiced the goldsmith's trade, bought an estate in 
Braintree, and founded a family of whom the Hon. Hugh 
Swinton Legare was an able representative ; Thomas 
Moussett, who owned a tract of land in Eoxbuiy in 1698 
and was an elder in the church ; Isaac Biscon, a native 
of the island of Oleron ; Francis Bridon (Bredon, Breedon) 
who fled from the Port des Barques in 1681 ; Stephen 
Eobineau, whose daughter Mary married Daniel Ayrault 
in 1703 ; Abraham Sauvage (Savage from St. Algis), in 
Picardy ; James Montier, from Eouen ; Jean Maillet, 
Joseph Eoy, Bastian Gazeau, Deblois of Saintonge, Eene 
Grignon, Louis and Henri Guionneau, Louis Boucher, 
Jean Girote and Jean Petel. 



CHAPTEE IX 
A DESCEIPTIOIT OF EAELY BOSTON 

Boston as ^"^^ -^-^ ®^ ^^^ ^^^^ descriptions of Boston and its 

Rel-uge^^ ■ 1 surrounding settlements in these early days is to 



o 



be found in the ''Narrative of a French Protes- 
tant Eefugee in Boston. ' ' Some extracts from that very 
valuable document will be of interest here, as they show 
the conditions by which the Huguenot settlers were sur- 
rounded, and give a hint as to the kind of life which went 
on in Boston prior to the opening of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. As will be gathered from the first selection, the 
narrative was written as a guide to refugees in London 
who contemplated emigrating to America. Says the 
author : 

"First, in order to come to this country, it is necessary 
The Ship to embark at London, from which place a ship sails about 

once a month. The most favourable time to embark is 
the latter part of March, or the end of August and the 
beginning of September. These are the proper seasons ; 
all the more because the weather is then neither too hot 
nor too cold, and one does not experience the dead calms 
which occui' frequently in summer, and on account of 
which vessels take four months to cross hither : besides 
which, the heat often produces sickness on shipboard. 
If one will provide himself with suitable refreshments of 
all kinds, he will not have to endure any discomfort. 
With regard to danger, one must be particular to take 
passage on a good vessel, well equipped with men and 
with cannon, and well provided with an unfailing supply 
of bread and water. 

' ' There is risk only in approaching land, and on the 
sand banks which one finds. (After stating that ' Cap 

192 



A DESCRIPTION OF EARLY BOSTON 193 

Coot ' was sighted some twenty leagues south of Boston, 
he continues) : On the following day we reached Boston, Boston 
after meeting a multitude of exceedingly pretty islands in 
front of Boston, most of them cultivated, and inhabited 
by peasants, and presenting a very pleasing appearance. 
Boston is situated within a bay three or four leagues in 
circumference, and shut in by these islands. Here ships 
ride in safety, in all kinds of weather. The town is built 
upon the slope of a little hill, and is about as large as La 
Rochelle. With the surrounding land it measures not 
more than three miles around, for it is almost an island. 
It would only be necessary to cut thi'ough the sand about 
three hundred paces, and in less than twice twenty-four 
hours Boston would be made an island, with the sea beat- 
ing upon it on every side. The town consists almost en- a wooden 

'^ ^ •' Town 

tirely of houses built of wood : but since the ravages made 
by fires, it is no longer allowed to build of wood, and 
several very handsome houses of brick are at present go- 
ing up. . . . There is no other religion here than the 
Presbyterian, Anglican, the Anabaptist, and our own. varieties of 
We have no Papists, at least none that are known to us. 

"One may bring with him persons bound to service, of 
whatever calling ; they are indispensable in order to the 
cultivation of the ground. One may also hold negroes, Negro 
male and female ; there is not a house in Boston, however 
small the means of the family, that has not one or two. 
Some have five or six, and all earn well their living. The 
savages are employed, for the tilling of the lands, at a 
shilling and a half, or eighteen pence per day, with their 
board. . . . Negroes cost from twenty to forty pis- 
toles, according to their skill or vigour. There is no 
danger that they, or even the bond -servants will leave 
you, for so soon as one is missing from the town, it is only 
necessary to give notice of the fact to the savages, and 
describe the person to them, promising them some re- 
ward, and the man is soon found. But it seldom hap- 
pens that they leave you, for they would not know whither 



Religion 



Slavery 



194 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

to go, few roads having been opened, and those that have 
been opened leading to English towns or villages, which, 
upon your writing to them, would forthwith send back 
your people to you. 

High Wages " Houses of brick and of wood can be built cheaply, as 

it regards the materials, for as to manual labour that is 
very dear ; a man could scarcely be induced to work for 
less than twenty-four pence per day and his board. . . . 
The rivers abound with fish, and we have so much, both 
of sea and river fish, that no account is made of it. There 
are persons here of every trade, and particularly carpen- 
ters for ship -building. The day after my arrival, I wit- 

ship Building ncsscd the launching of a vessel of three hundred tons, 
and since then, two others, a little smaller, have been 
launched. This town carries on an extensive trade with 
the islands of America and with Spain. To the islands 
they take meal, salt beef, salt pork, codfish, staves, salt 
salmon, salt mackerel, onions, and oysters — a great quan- 
tity of which are caught here — preserved with salt in 
barrels ; and upon their return they bring sugar, cotton - 
wood, molasses, indigo and other freight. As for the 
trade with Spain, they carry thither nothing but dry fish, 
which can be had here at eight to twelve shillings per 
quintal, according to the quality. Their return cargo 
consists of oils, wine, brandy and other merchandise. 
. . . I came in season to see a prodigious quantity of 
apples, of which they make cider that is marvellous. A 
barrel costs only eight shillings, and in the taverns they 
sell it for twopence per quart, and beer for two- 
pence. 

Good Opening " If our poor refugee brethren who understand farming 
should come here, they could not fail to live very com- 
fortably and gain property ; for the English are very 
lazy, and are proficient only in raising their Indian corn 
and cattle. . . . With regard to wild beasts, we have 
here a quantity of bears and wolves in great numbers, 
who commit many depredations among the sheep, when 



and Bad 



A DESCEIPTION OF EAELY BOSTON 195 

due precautions are not taken. We have also a quantity 
of rattlesnakes, but they are not to be seen as yet. 

"The English who inhabit these countries are, as else- The Good 
where, good and bad ; but one sees more of the latter 
than of the former class, and to tell it to you in a few 
words, there are all kinds, and consequently all kinds of 
life and manners. It is not that strife and quarrels occur 
among them, but it is that they do not lead a good life. 
There are some that practice no other formality of mar- 
riage than that of taking each other by the hand ; and 
they live together peaceably ; there are others, sixty years 
of age, who have not yet been baptized because they are 
not members. About a month ago, a woman forty-five 
years of age was baptized in our church, with five of her 
children. They would not baptize her among the Pres- 
byterians because she had not become a member." 

It will not do to place too much reliance upon the 
writer's remarks as to the moral character of the people. 
His associations were evidently not of the best. What 
he says about looseness of marriage ties does not accord 
with the Puritan strictness. His narrative is to be taken 
with the same large allowance that belongs to the tourists 
who spend a few weeks in America and then write vol- 
umes of description. 




CHAPTEE X 
FEENCH SETTLEMEIs^T IN MAINE 



The Dresden 
Settlement 



Stephen 
Houdelette 



^"T ^HE visitor to the Foiest Grove Cemeteiy, in the 
villaae of Eichmond, ou the eastern bank of the 



1 



Kennebec, finds a reminder of the refugee set- 
tlers in an inscription on a tombstone : " Lonis Houde- 
lette and Mary Cavalear, his Wife, French Huguenots." 
The Maine historians, for the most part, have failed to 
give credit to the French settlers, either affirming that 
Dresden was settled by Germans, or passing lightly over 
the French part of the record. But later researches have 
shown that the founders of Dresden were nearly all 
French, who had first fled to Germany after the Eevoca- 
tion, and had thence emigrated to the new world in com- 
pany with a few German families. Dresden was settled 
by these people in 1752, and in many instances the fami- 
lies still retain the French names, with such changes as 
time and new environment work in nomenclature. 

These French Protestants belonged to the Lutheran 
branch of the Eeformed Church, and came from the east- 
ern provinces of France. Of the forty-six French and 
German emigrants who left Frankfort in 1752, twenty- 
eight French names are known and five German, so that 
the colony was preponderantly French. Among the 
more important of these families was that of Charles 
Stephen Houdelette, the father of Louis. He was a lace 
weaver, and represented the best type of the French 
skilled artisan, and was equally prominent in the civil 
and spiritual life of the little colony. Some of his de- 
scendants still remain in Dresden, while others are scat- 
tered throughout various parts of the country. Henry 

196 



FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN MAINE 197 

Clay Houdelette, direct descendant of Louis Houdelette 
and Mary Cavalier, was commander of a steamship ply- 
iug between San Francisco and the Sandwich Islands. 
One of the most interesting j)assages in his career was the 
occasion on which he received knighthood at the hands of 
the potentate of that group of islands. 

Another family Wcis that of Jean Pochard, weaver, son jean Pochard 
of the Honourable Nicholas Pochard, mayor of Anne-sur- 
I'eau in France. In May, 1751, the ministers and elders a "Char- 
of the church at Chenebie gave him a certificate for him- 
self and family, comprising his wife and four sous, set- 
ting forth that ''they and their childi^en have lived up to 
the present time in a Christian manner, professing the 
holy religion according to the Confession of Augsburg, 
having committed no crime, at least that has come to our 
knowledge." The mental reservation at the end shows 
an admirable degree of caution on the part of the wi-iters, 
to say the least. Jean Pochard with his family sailed 
from Eotterdam to Boston on the ship Priscilla in 1751, ship PriscUia 
and reached Frankfort plantation, the first township or- *^^' 
ganized for settlement on the Kennebec after the proprie- 
tors of the Kennebec Purchase came into possession, in 
March of 1752. Tradition says they tarried awhile at 
Fort Richmond, from fear of the Indians. Indeed, an 
Indian tragedy on Swan Island was then a very recent 
affair. They very soon built for themselves log houses on 
the banks of the Eastern River, the sites of some of which 
are still distinctly traceable. In 1765, John Pochard mort- 
gaged forty acres of land situated on Dresden neck, to 
William Bowdoin, of Roxbury, in trust, to secure the 
owners of the ship Priscilla the sum of £27, 15s., 6d., the 
amount of his passage money from Rotterdam to Boston ; 
and in 1773, James Bowdoin, administrator of the estate 
of William, discharged that mortgage. We can gather 
from this kindly action how ready were the Bowdoins to 
aid their fellow countrymen, and we may be sure that 
Bowdoin College proceeded from the same trait of char- 



198 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



acter in the Bowdoin family. The name Pochard became 
corrupted to Pushard, and one branch of the family 
petitioned the legislature to have their name changed to 
Shaw. 



Asking for a 
Missionary 



Firm but not 
Narrow 



II 

These settlers were ever mindful of their religion. In 
1759, with the Houdelettes, the Gouds, the Stilphens, and 
others, John Pochard and three of his sons were among 
the petitioners who asked that Jacob Bailey be sent them 
as missionary. Of John Pochard's four sons, Abraham 
worked at Fort Western as a hewer of timber ; tradition 
says George was killed by the Indians while hunting up 
river in the vicinity of the wilds of Augusta ; Christopher 
settled in Pownalboro ; and Peter, the youngest, became a 
shoemaker, and after marrying Daniel Malbon's daughter 
Betsey, settled on the lot of land where Wast Dresden 
post-ofi&ce now is. His cellar and well are still to be seen, 
and some apple trees planted by his hand still bear fruit. 
Two of his grandchildren were living in 1892, and a great- 
grandson preserves the old shoemaker's lapstone and other 
of his tools. A copy of his will shows that he was 
thrifty, like his race, and died possessed of some property. 
He was a respected and worthy citizen. 

"Baptized a Lutheran in France, he attended Episco- 
pal ser\ace until Rev. Mr. Bailey's departure for Halifax 
in 1779 ; and when the Congregational Church was erected 
in 1801, Peter became its first sexton, purchased a gallery 
pew for eighteen dollars, and a floor pew for forty-seven 
dollars. I think these people were piously inclined with- 
out being narrow." Writing thus, Mr. Charles E. Allen 
expresses a significant fact concerning their character. 
They would not abjure Protestantism and embrace popery, 
though they gave up life itself ; but, on the other hand, 
they were not bigoted or small sectarians. They could 
be brotherly in any church that upheld the great Prot- 
estant principles of liberty of conscience and a free Bible ; 



FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN MAINE 199 

and in every community they contributed to the best 
citizenship. 

As a whole, these colonists of Dresden township were a Good Type 
earnest and capable, though poor. Contending against °'^^^"'^'' 
poverty, besides being menaced by Indians, snow and ice, 
wolves and bears, they yet managed to wrest a fair degree 
of prosperity from the wilderness. By dint of hard and 
persevering labour they turned the forest into a farming 
country. Among numerous other products, they cul- 
tivated flax with good success, and so deftly did their 
wives and daughters spin this into linen that many of 
their fabrics are in existence to-day. Among the number 
of these settlers whose names have been preserved are the 
following : Charles Houdelette, Louis, his son, John 
Pochard and his four sons, Jean Goud, Daniel Goud, 
James Goud, Jacques Bugnon, Daniel Malbon, Amos 
Paris, Philip Fought, John Stain, John Pechin, John 
Henry Laylor, Francis Eiddle, Michael Stilphen, George 
Jaquin, James Frederick Jaquin. 

Ill 

The two letters which follow are interesting documents, two charac- 
and not the less so because they show a remarkably rapid tlVs "^ 
progress in a new and stubborn language : 

Frankfort, September 13, 1752. 
Sirs : — We have learnt from James Frederick Jaquin, lately from 
Halifax and settled amongst us that all those that arrived there since 
some short time from Urope, was by means of the letters we wrote to 
our friends in our country, and instead of their being transported to 
Boston according to our intentions, was carried to Halifax by the ill 
conduct of the commisary J. Crelious, which is verified by the wife 
and children of Malbon being there, and ye mother, brothers and sisters 
of Daniel Jacob likewise, and generally their own brother and brothers- 
in-law, or other relations, which makes us humbly entreat of the honour- 
able company to have the goodness and regard for us, that all those 
the said Jaquin proposed to the gentlemen he shoiild go and bring to 
our settlement from Halifax by transporting himself to Boston in the 
first sloop, the which persones would be very necessary amongst us, 



200 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

some being artist and brought up to such trades as we cant well do 
without, and it is our generall request to the company to have them 
if possible, and in particular Malbon and Daniel Jacob ; and if these 
cant have their families with them at Frankfort, they say of necessity 
though much against their inclination must go to Halifax, not being 
able to live with any comfort or satisfaction so near them and not be 
near their dear relatives ; therefore further humbly and earnestly in- 
treat of the venerable good company to use their utmost interest to ob- 
tain said persones for their friends and for which favours shall be ever 
obliged. Signed in behalf of all the French settlers at Frankfort, 

Charles Stephen Houdelette. 

Malbon's wife's name is Margaret Humbart. If the gentleman 
writes to Halifax about the above mentioned persones, he desires they 
■would let his wife know he is in good health, and that he dasires noth- 
ing more in the world but to have her with him. 

To 3Ir. Peter Chardon. 

Fkankfoet, November 2, 1752, 
SlE : — "We ask with great humility, pardon for our importunities 
and trouble we give you, and we take again the freedom to write pray- 
ing Almighty God for the preservation of your dear health and of all 
those that belongs to you. We had great satisfaction in the grant of 
fourty acres of land each in this place, but at the same time the afflic- 
tion to see the English quit their first lots and settle upon the French 
line in such a manner as to oblige some of us to take up with the other 
twenty acres at a great distance from the first, although we had almost 
finished our settlements ; and further, we are very much troubled to 
see said persons to our great inconvenience fit their houses in such for- 
wardness as only to want coverings which would been likewise done 
if they had the tools necessary for their work. 

The most honourable gentlemen of the company promised to settle 
all the French upon one line near one another, so as to enable them 
hereafter to settle a minister for Divine Service and a schoolmaster for 
the instruction of their children. We desire, dear sir, you would be 
BO good as to communicate to the honourable gentlemen of the com- 
pany our former requests for sundry articles, we are in very great want 
of, in particular the provision our three men that went to Boston lately 
desired, not have half enough to carry us through the winter, and as 
for other necessaries every one asks for himself, besides what each de- 
sired some time ago, namely for George Gout 2 hatts, 1 a half castor, 
the other a felt, 3 shaves to shave wood, black pepper, smoak tobaca. 
For John Pochard, 2 hats, 1 shaver for wood, 1 hand saw, 2 gimlets, 1 
large, 1 small ; smoak tobaca, black pepper, sewing thread for cloth, 2 



FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN MAINE 



201 



chisels, small hatchet. For John Bugnont — barrel vinegar, bushel of 
onions, black pepper, felt hat, blanket or rugg, thread for clothes, 
smoak tobaca, barrel of rura for him, George Gout & Peter Gout. For 
Daniel Jalot, 5 yards middlin coarse cloth for clothes, hats, axe, 
thread, black pepper. For Peter Gout, hats, sewing thread, hand- 
saw, chisel, shaver, bushel of onions. For Joseph Bas, shaver, hat, 
bushel of onions, black pepper, tobaca to smoak, cive for flower. 

Signed by 

James Bugnont, 
Peter Gout, 
John Pochard & 
Denis Jacob. 

I have received 3 barrels, 1 of flour, 1 of Indian corn, & one of 
pork. I humbly intreat of you, dear sir, to ask the favour of those 
gentlemen to have the goodness to send me 3 barrels more of flour, 3 
of Indian corn, and 2 of pork, 1 of rum, and 1 of molasses, these lasfc 
two for Daniel Jacob and Joseph Bas ; and for me, James Frederick 
Jaquin, the last comer, a small quantity of the best flax for a piece or 
two of linen, 19 lbs. of tobaca, 1 lb. black pepper, bushel of onions, 
bushel of good peas. This signed only by 

James Frederick Jaquin. 



■V 'fart imuuf t/itrJter^am/ aj ^TAaiihalaw 




Earliest View of New Amsterdam 



CHAPTEE XI 

HUGUENOT INFLUENCE UPON PUEITAN 
CHARACTER 



Speedy Differ- 
entiation 



AA^hence the 
Change 



WE are led constantly to wonder at the radical 
difference between the men and women of Eng- 
land and of New England. Of the same race, 
the same stock, they are yet so unlike as to occasion in- 
vestigation into the causes of such wide divergence. No 
sooner were the Pilgrims and Puritans established on this 
side the sea than they began to differentiate from their 
forebears on the other side. And the peculiarities which 
distinguish the New Englanders are not merely in dress, 
accent, speech or customs, they extend to face and figure, 
physique and manner. Where the Englishman is phleg- 
matic, the New Euglander is alert and wiry ; where the 
former is burly, the latter is slight and quick by compar- 
ison. Perhaps nowhere does the difference stand out 
more conspicuously than in the treatment of women by 
the men — a treatment that has made the American hus- 
band and father a standard of excellence and genuine 
chivalry. 

This wide-reaching change which came over the trans- 
planted Puritans is of great interest to the student of 
race development and of the influence of mixed bloods. 
Whence came the greater flexibility of the Yankee intel- 
lect, the larger spirit of liberality, that great hospitality 
towards men and ideas'? What produced the livelier 
and more cheerful temperament, and that darker and 
warmer physical colouring, so that the ruddy-cheeked, 
blue-eyed Saxon type became rarer among the New Eng- 

202 



HUGTJElSrOT INFLUENCE 203 

landers, and the brown skin and dark eyes common? 
This subject is considered philosophically by Horace 
Graves, of whose study, "The Huguenot in New Eng- 
land," we make free use in this chapter. 

So keen an author as Hawthorne, who had full chance Contrast 
to observe, in his English Note Book sets forth in strong Hawthome 
colours the characteristics of the Englishmen who have 
remained at home, and of those who are the product of 
two or three centuries of life in America. ' ' We, in our 
dry atmosphere, " he wrote in 1863, "are getting nervous, 
haggard, dyspeptic, extenuated, unsubstantial, theoretic, 
and need to be made grosser. John Bull, on the other 
hand, has grown bulbous, long-bodied, short- legged, 
heavy-witted, material, and, in a word, too intensely 
English. In a few centuries he will be the earthiest 
creature that the earth ever saw." 

He speaks still more candidly of the British woman, as ungaiiant but 
contrasted with her American sister. "I have heard a °''^p^''^ 
good deal of the tenacity with which the English ladies 
retain their personal beauty to a late period of life ; but 
it strikes me that an English lady of fifty is apt to become 
a creature less refined and delicate, so far as her physique 
goes, than anything that we western people class under 
the name of woman. She has an awful ponderosity of 
frame, not pulpy, like the looser development of our few 
fat women, but massive, with solid beef and streaky tal- 
low ; so that (though struggling manfully against the idea) 
you inevitably think of her as made up of steaks and 
sirloins. When she walks, her advance is elephantine. 
When she sits down, it is on a great round si)ace of her 
Maker's footstool, where she looks as if nothing could 
ever move her. Her visage is unusually grim and stern, 
seldom positively forbidding, yet calmly terrible, not 
merely by its breadth and weight of feature, but because 
it seems to express so much well-founded self-reliance." 

Hawthorne and others attributed this great difference cumate as 
in the men and women of the two countries to climate, '^^"^^ 



204 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

and this theory has been largely accepted as sufficient to 
account for all dissimilarities. It has been generally be- 
lieved that a clearer, sunnier air has browned the race 
permanently, and begotten nervousness of physical and 
mental constitution. It is assumed that there could have 
been no more powerful, and indeed no other intervening 
cause. In support of this conclusion it is pointed out 
that the New England colonists were purely and ex- 

Paifrey clusivcly English. Palfrey contends that the population 

''continued to multiply for a century and a half on its 
own soil, in remarkable seclusion from other communi- 

Fiske ties." John Fiske accepts Palfrey's statement, and cites 

Savage as demonstrating, after painstaking labours, that 
ninety-eight out of every hundred of the early settlers 
could trace their descent directly to an English ancestry. 
These authorities would leave us no alternative but to 
conclude that climate alone must have wrought the re- 
markable transformation of mind, character and body, 
through which have been evolved and fixed the idiosyn- 
crasies of the New Englander. 

II 

Not a suf- But if climate was the potent cause, why did not the 

ncient Cause 

changes appear in the first century of colonial life ? In 
1776 the portraits of the men who won our liberties show 
us veritable Englishmen. Yet in 1863 the change had 
come about, and Hawthorne found the two peoples rad- 
ically different. Climate is much slower in its effects than 
this. The truth is, it is impossible that the Yankee could 
have been so greatly differentiated from the Englishman 
in three or four generations merely from exposure to a 
climate but little unlike that of Great Britain. Having 
The True disposcd of tliis fallacious theory, the search for an ef- 

fective cause begins, and later historical researches have 
made it plain. This transformation came from mixture 
of bloods, from intermarriage between the early English 
colonists and some race of a slighter build, a less sombre 



HUGUENOT INFLUENCE 205 

disposition, a more active mind and an iuteuser nature. 
There is no race which at once combined proximity and 
the other requisites except the French ; and in the French 
— with their clearness and quickness, their bright dispo- The French 
sition — were to be found every required element. There 
are two classes of French ; and that which came to 
America to seek a home and religious liberty possessed 
a remarkable combination of traits — a mingling of the 
sanguine, light, cheerful, witty, sincere, devout, and ami- 
able. Disposed to enjoy life, even under hardest circum- 
stances, the Frenchman w;is the best of companions. As 
Lavater, the great phj^siognomist, says: "His counte- 
nance is open and at first sight speaks a thousand pleasant, 
amiable things. His eloquence is often deafening, but his 
good humour casts a veil over his failings." 

This is the stock that intermingled with the Puritan 
and wrought the change, and it is strange that historians 
should not have given them larger credit for their racial 
influence. It is equally strange that only recently has the 
extent of the Huguenot immigration been recognized in 
any adequate degree. One reason given is that the French a strong 
refugees came to New England from motives so much like 
those which brought the early settlers that these strangers 
did not, on arriving, exhibit the strong contrast with 
their English predecessors which appeared on the entry 
of the French exiles into other parts of our country. The 
Huguenots and the Puritans had both suffered bitter per- 
secution. They had faced death from devotion to the 
same religious principles. Moreover they were not 
strangers to one another ; for when the little congregation 
from Scrooby sought refuge in Holland, they found Ley- 
den full of Frenchmen who had fled from their native 
country. For a time both bodies of people were allowed 
to worship in the same edifice, and both were eagerly 
waiting the opportunity to put the ocean between them- 
selves and their enemies. In one particular they differed 
radically, and that favoured the loss of recognition by the 



Mixture 



206 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



French at the 
Base 



The French 
Contribution 



Huguenots. The English were fearful lest they should 
lose their English name and tongue ; while the French 
seemed indifferent to their native speech, and were ready 
to translate their names into equivalent Dutch or English, 
according to the predominant population of the commu- 
nity in which they happened to be. They soon merged 
into New Englanders. Before the first ships reached shore, 
indeed, the French Molines had become plain English 
Mullins, as we have seen. 

The English got away from Holland first, and those of 
the French Protestants who cast lots in with them speedily 
assimilated with their fellow voyagers. This was done so 
unobtrusively that only in recent days has the truth been 
realized that the Plymouth colony was not of unmixed 
English blood, but contained an element that was pro- 
foundly to affect the English stock. Thus right at the 
base of the first effort to settle New England is this reve- 
lation of the stealthy introduction of the Huguenot to the 
hearthstone and into the very hearts of the New England 
ancestors. It is no surprise, after this, to find that many 
of the eminent men of our early history were in some de- 
gree at least of Huguenot descent. 

What did the Huguenots contribute to the change in 
English character ? All the lighter, happier, more refin- 
ing and spiritual qualities, the joyous temperament. The 
thi-ift of the Protestant French is proverbial. It found 
speedy expression in New England in commerce and in 
devising new subjects of manufacture and exportation. 
We have noted how the Faneuils and Gabriel Bernon and 
their French fellows were of the mercantile and manu- 
facturing class that built up Boston. As the exiled 
French were founders of many British industries when 
they settled in England, so they were most efi&cient in 
developing the resources of the new country in which 
they were heartily given asylum. But they were never so 
engrossed in trade that they allowed their passion for 
civil and religious liberty to expire. It was a Huguenot, 



HUGUENOT INFLUENCE 



207 



Paul Eevere, who was the trusted messenger of the Boston 
patriots on the night before the conflict at Lexington. 
There is no name of traitor in all the list, though many 
of them, owing everything to England and regarding her 
as their deliverer, could not see it right to rebel against 
her authority, and remained on the Tory side. 



Loss of 
Identity 



III 

It is all the more singular that Palfrey did not recog- 
nize the Huguenot influence upon the Puritan life, since 
he knew of their x^resence. In his " History of New Eng- 
land " he makes the extremely conservative statement that 
at least one hundred and fifty Huguenot families came to 
Massachusetts after the Revocation in 1685. He makes 
no account of those already here, nor of those who did 
not come directly from France, nor of those who kept 
coming from time to time, even down to 1776. Nor does 
he take account of the number who have names that 
seem to be English or Dutch, but which are French trans- 
lated, as in the case of some of the Duboises, li\'ing in 
Leyden, who allowed themselves to be called Van den 
Bosch, and came to America under that name. Gerneau 
became Gano in English mouths, and at last the owners 
of the name let it go at that. Thus Erouard became 
Heroy, Bouquet is now spelled Bockee, Tissau became 
Tishew, and Fleurri is hid in Florence. Olivier has been 
confused with the English Oliver, and Burpo was origin- 
ally Bonrepos, Nor was the assent to this distortion due 
to ignorance on the part of the Frenchmen ; for Bonrepos 
was a learned pastor of the French church in Boston, and 
the refugees were generally of the higher and culti- 
vated classes of their native land. 

The merchants of the Huguenot seaports of France French-swi 
were already familiar with the New England seaports, 
and fled to Boston and Salem when the time of peril came. 
Many of them found shelter in neighbouring countries be- 
fore coming to America, and sometimes for that reason 



208 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



were not recoguized as French, lu this way families like 
those of Agassiz and Audubon are known as Swiss, while 
there is little doubt that their origin was French. When 
the Cabots, the Lefavours, the Beadles, the Valpys and 
Philip English had established themselves in Salem, they 
began to bring over their fellow countrymen. English, 
whose real name was L' Anglois, became owner of a large 

Philip English number of ships and a great deal of other property. For 
years he imported young men to be apprenticed as sailors 
and young girls to be employed as domestics. They were 
all of Huguenot ancestry and their descendants to-day 
disclose their French origin in their personal apj)earance. 
Between the Connecticut River and Massachusetts Bay, 
young men of that line of ancestry are by no means rare, 
with large brown eyes, black hair and slender, graceful 
figures, which proclaim them Frenchmen in everything 
except speech ; and yet their forefathers have been in- 
habitants of eastern Massachusetts since the beginning of 
the seventeenth century. In a little seajDort near Salem 
there are to be found to-day at least fifty family names 
which are distinctly French ; yet those who bear them 
now have never suspected that they were of other than 
English origin. 

In this connection, it may be asked how many New 
Englanders would at first thought suppose or admit that 
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, American of the Americans, and 
author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," had 
Huguenot blood in her ancestry. Yet she was the great- 
graudniece of General Francis Marion, which explains 
the strain that made a battle hymn her natural expres- 
sion. Her mother had the high type of French beauty, 
and through all the French side of the family ran the 
best traits of the Huguenot blood. 

How extended may have been this influence flowing 

An Estimate juto our uatioual life may be inferred from the fact that of 
the twenty-five thousand or more English who were to be 
found in New England towards the middle or latter part 



Julia Ward 
Howe 



HUGUENOT INFLUENCE 209 

of the seventeenth century, the descendants are reckoned 
by Mr. Fiske at fifteen millions. To these few thousands 
of English, the Huguenots, as admitted by Palfrey, made 
an accession of one hundred and fifty families, — which 
means nearly a thousand persons, as families went then ; 
but after this first flood had spent its strength, nearly 
every ship from London, according to Baird, for many 
years brought additions to those who had come in the 
past. The exodus from France continued for full fifty 
years from 1666, and within that time at least a million 
Frenchmen were expatriated, and those the flower of the 
nation. It is not possible that less than four or five 
thousand came to dwell in New England. 

The gain for New England is distinctly revealed in the 
development of Yankee enterprise along those very lines 
in which it was started by the French colonists. But 
these were present in the requisite number ; and when the 
eye is once trained and the ear attuned to detect the 
names which indicate Huguenot ancestry, it is astonish- 
ing how frequently they reveal themselves. If New 
Englanders are closely questioned concerning their an- 
cestry, there are few who do not confess to some trace of 
French blood, though it be slight. This is peculiarly 
true of the eastern half of Massachusetts. 

IV 

When the Huguenots contributed their genial presence common 
to our population, it was like the influx of a gladdening ^/preedom"^^ 
river into a thirsty land, carrying joy wherever it goes. 
At first, like all foreigners, they were reserved, and mar- 
riages were mostly confined to their own nationality ; but 
the second or third generation, under American influences 
which break down race barriers, found alliances that 
made Americans of them all. How rapidly nationalities 
merge in this country is seen in the case of a young man 
whose father was a Frenchman and whose mother was an 
American of English descent. His wife's mother is an 



210 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



An Illustra- 
tion 



A Social 
Factor 



Irishwomau, and her father a German. Thus that mar- 
riage rolled four nationalities into one within two genera- 
tions. But between the Huguenot and Puritan there was 
no stream to bridge over. They had in their common 
Calvinism and love of freedom a bond of sympathy and 
union that brought them into harmony as soon as their 
tongues had learned to speak a common language. 

It is evident that the absorption of the Huguenots 
would occur more rapidly after the Revolution, and would 
manifest itself unmistakably during the first half of the 
nineteenth century, the time when the contrast between 
the New Englanders and the Old Englanders made such 
an impression upon Hawthorne and Emerson. The 
result is so noteworthy that it is marvellous that we did 
not long ago recognize the method of the brewing of that 
race of men and the material which entered into it. 
*' There is a substance known to chemistry as diastase, 
which is an active element in the germination of every 
seed, and which, on being sprinkled, never so sparingly, 
over a great mass of the brewer's cloudy, pasty ^ mash,' 
clears it instantly and leaves it a sweet, pure, transparent 
liquid. Such an office might the introduction of the 
Huguenot into New England seem to have performed, in 
dissipating the heaviness and dogged prejudice of our 
insular kinsmen." That is Mr. Graves' conclusion, and 
it is justified by the facts continually coming to light. 

The Huguenot element, not only in New England, but 
equally in New York and Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, 
was a powerful social factor. Not numbers but character 
made them so effective in changing conditions. Every 
record we have of them in persecution and suffering and 
torture displays the same disposition to endure bravely 
and to make the best of the worst situations. Shipwreck, 
stormy voyages, homelessness, deprivations and perils of 
every kind — these circumstances only bring out the 
courage and cheer and uprightness and dauntless spirit of 
the Huguenots. And when circumstances improved, 



HUGUENOT INFLUENCE 211 

their geuial aud lovable temperament always became a 

wholesome quality iu a life that was far too sombre and 

grim and gloomy when the Puritan had it to himself. 

Where the French were, there was the wise admixture of 

grave and gay, the enjoyment of life. And these much 

needed elements entered into the New England social a High Type 

development, and far exceeded climate in altering the New 

Euglander aud creating on our continent a new type, 

comprising the best qualities of Protestant English and 

Protestant French — the best type of American perhaps 

yet to be found. Certain it is that New England character 

cannot be explained without the presence of the French 

blood. 

In an exceedingly interesting article on "The Brain of 
the Nation," M. Gustave Michaud says that the immi- 
grants who peopled New England during the seventeenth 
century may be roughly divided into two categories : 
those who emigrated because they wished to improve 
their position through the acquisition of property, aud 
those who wished above all to enjoy religious liberty. 
The latter contained among them an unusual number of 
men of talent. Lombroso has demonstrated the close 
connection which exists between exalted religious ideas 
and ideals and the nervous temperament characteristic 
of genius. In our country examples of that connection 
are abundant. Henry Clay, Lowell, Bancroft, Park- 
man, Samuel F. B. Morse, Cyrus W. Field, were sons of 
clergymen. Cooper, Howells aud Whittier were sons of 
Quakers. Agassiz was the son of a Swiss pastor, himself 
of Huguenot descent. The Huguenots — in America still 
more than in England — were a hotbed of talent. And 
study reveals the curious influence which the blood of 
thousands of Huguenots who were among the very fii-st 
settlers of South Carolina, now exerts upon the intellec- 
tuality of the state. 



PAET TWO 
THE FRENCH IN NEW YORK 



CHAPTER I 
THE FOUNDERS OF NEW AMSTERDAM 



Wi 



HILE the Dutch loug had all the credit of 
French %/\/ fouudliig New Amsterdam, which afterwards 

sm°iefs^*'^'^ ▼ ▼ became New York, later historical researches 

have brought to light the fact that French Protestants 
had an important part in the early settlement, and were 
among the original company that established a colony on 
Manhattan Island. The Walloons were French who had 
fled from the province of that name, on the northern 
boundary of France, to escape religious persecution, and 
had taken up their residence in Holland, where other 
French Protestant refugees came at one time and another 
during the century that followed the massacre of St. 
Jesse de Forest Bartliolomcw. The samB Jesse de Forest that proposed 
to the Virginia Company to bring a French colony to 
America, when that offer was declined so far as material 
aid was concerned, repeated the proposition to the Dutch 
West India Company, just then forming. It was ac- 
cepted, and as a result the French Protestants made up a 
large part of the expedition of thirty families which 
sailed in March, 1623, in the ship New Netherlands to 
found a Dutch colony at the mouth of the Hudson. 
Y Under the ordering of Providence, what strange results 
follow apparently slight causes. The English Puritans 
offered to establish a colony for the Dutch on the Hud- 

212 



THE FOUNDEES OF NEW AMSTERDAM 213 

sou ; but the Dutch not being ready to move, fouud a 
home at Plymouth instead ; while the French Protestants, 
who offered to establish a colony in Virginia, since the 
Virginia Company was not wise enough to accept the 
ofter, went to the Hudson instead of the James, and 
helped found a Dutch commonwealth. 

After a specially favoured voyage, early in May, four- 
teen years after Henry Hudson had discovered the noble 
river which perpetuates his name, the ship New Nether- N^VJ,^f^d 
land sailed into the ''most beautiful bay" that now shel- *^*3 
ters the commerce of the world. At that very moment a 
French ship lay in the harbour, on errand to take pos- 
session of the country in the name of France, on the 
ground of Verrazzano's discovery a century before ; and 
thus French Roman Catholic and French Protestant met 
again. Fortunately for the newcomers, a Dutch "vessel 
of several guns" chanced to lie a little further up the 
river ; and between the remonstrances of the colonists and 
a show of force from the Mackerel^ the French ship sailed 
away, leaving the Dutch and Walloons free to land and 
make their settlement. They found a few huts near the 
southern end of the island, where a trading-post had been 
maintained by Amsterdam merchants. With this excep- 
tion the country was a wilderness. 

The inhabitants of the little trading-post were not all 
Dutch, however, for in 1614 a child was born of Hugue- 1614 
not parents. This baby, named Jean Vign6, disputes the First child 
right with Virginia Dare of being remembered as the 
first white child to see the light on the continent of North 
America. The second birth to take place within the 
limits of the Dutch province was that of Sarah Rapalie, 
likewise of Huguenot blood, who was born at Orange. 
The names of her parents, indeed, George Rapalie and 
Catalina Trico, were the only ones definitely known hith- 
erto of the French colonists brought over in the New 
NetherJand. They went, with seventeen other families, 
up the North River, landed and built a fort called Orange, 



French 



Sarah Rapalie 



214 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



The French 
Dispersed 



A Happy Set- 
tlement 



near what is now Albany. Of the other families, eight 
remained on Manhattan and took possession there for the 
West India Company ; four newly married couples went 
westward and established a little post on the Delaware ; 
while two families pushed eastward through the wilds of 
Connecticut and built homes on the banks of the Hartford. 

There is no list of names of these first Huguenot set- 
tlers, but by comparing the names affixed to Jesse de 
Forest's petition to the Virginia Company with the 
records of Manhattan about fifteen years after the settle- 
ment (no records being kept during the first fifteen years 
of the colony), the following names are gleaned : Rapalie, 
De la Mot, Du Four, Le Rou, Le Roy, Du Pon, Chiselin, 
Cornille, De Trou, De Crenne, Damont, Campion, De 
Carpentier, Gille, Catoir, de Croy, Maton, Lambert, Mar- 
tin, and Gaspar. 

II 

The settlement was prosperous from the start, and the 
colonists happy. A ship which returned to Holland car- 
ried glowing accounts of the new country. An extract 
from one of the letters is as follows : 



Extract from a 
Letter 



We were much gratified on arriving in this country. Here we found 
beautiful rivers, bubbling fountains flowing down into the valleys ; 
basins of running waters in the flatlands, agreeable fruits in the woods, 
such as strawberries, walnuts, and wild grapes. The woods abound 
with venison. There is considerable fish in the rivers, good tillage 
land ; here is, especially, free coming and going, without fear of the 
naked natives of the country. Had we cows, hogs, and other cattle 
fit for food — which we expect in the first ships— we would not wish to 
return to Holland. 



Peter Minuit 
Huguenot 



The effect of such accounts was to bring over new 
colonists, among whom were many Huguenots. A 
Huguenot, Peter Minuit, was the second director or gov- 
ernor of the settlement. He reached Manhattan Fort in 
1626 when the colony comprised about thirty houses 
closely grouped about the block-house, and tenanted by 



THE FOUNDERS OF NEW AMSTERDAM 215 



Granted 



First Doctor a 

Huguenot 

LaMontagne 



Dutch, French, aud a few English. Minuit's family had 
taken refuge in Wessel some fifty years before this date, 
and there is a record in the Walloon Church of that place 1626 
which shows that he acted for a time as deacon. He was 
an active, energetic man, firm in temper, friendly in dis- 
position, just and honourable, and granted religious lib- 
erty and a fair amount of political freedom. 

De Rasieres, his secretary, was likewise a Huguenot Religious 
and a man of parts. Minuit sent him to visit Governor -* "^■ 
Bradford, of Massachusetts, regarding the relations of the 
two colonies, and Bradford alludes to him as " a man of 
fair and genteel behaviour." He proved himself as a 
diplomat, concealing from the English the fact of the val- 
uable fur trade, a knowledge of which would surely have 
brought the English in force against the Dutch possessions. 

Among the other Huguenots who were prominent in 
the first days of New Amsterdam was Johannes La Mon- 
tague, the first doctor to settle on Manhattan. He came 
from Leyden in 1637, from whence the family of his first 
wife, Rachel De Forest, had already emigrated to New 
Amsterdam. Previous to his coming the Zieckeutroosters 
(comforters of the sick) were the only props which the 
unfortunate sick of the colony had to lean upon. Dr. La 
Montague was a man of varied gifts, who subsequently 
occupied several stations of trust under the government. 
His name appears as a member of the council, and as 
official schoolmaster, and after a few years of practice he 
seems to have given up the medical profession and de- 
voted himself entirely to the civil and military service. 
It is quite probable that the colonists found the fresh air 
aud outdoor life of the new world too healthy to make 
the practice of medicine in New York as profitable as it 
has since become. He must have prospered in his new 
work, however, for he became the owner of a " bouwery " 
located at what is now the northern end of Central Park. 
His daughter, Marie, married Jacob Kij) in 1654. His 
farm comprised two hundred acres, for which he paid 



A Man of 

Affairs 



216 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Knicker- 
bockers a 
Mixed Blood 



Stuyvesant's 
Wife a 
Huguenot 



Bedloe's 
Island Named 
After Isaac 
Bethlo 



$720 ; it was situated ou Eighth Avenue between Ninety- 
third Street and the Harlem River. He named it '' Vre- 
dendal " or " Valley of Peace." Its value to-day is high 
in the millions. 

Ill 

The French and Dutch mingled together harmoniously, 
setting each other off to great advantage. How excellent 
was the result produced by the infusion of the facile 
French blood with that of the stolid Dutch may be seen 
in the great Knickerbocker families. Nearly every New 
Yorker who can trace his ancestry back to the founders 
of New Amsterdam will find traces of Huguenot blood in 
his veins, for both in the earlier and later days the inter- 
mixture of races was the almost constant rule. So evenly 
matched were the two nationalities in point of numbers 
by the year 1656, that all government and town procla- 
mations were issued in French as well as in Dutch. 

Peter Stuyvesant, the famous director-general, had a 
Huguenot wife, Judith Bayard, daughter of a refugee 
minister ; and during his administration he had living 
with him his sister, who was the widow of a Huguenot, 
Samuel Bayard. It was her son who founded the illustri- 
ous Bayard family of America. For these reasons, if for 
no others, he took much interest in the French exiles 
who sought refuge within his dominions. He not only 
kindly received those who came, but went further, and in 
1664 offered flattering prospects to a company of Protes- 
tants in La Rochelle who were on the point of emigrating, 
carrying out his promises by presenting them with grants 
of land. Small bodies of French colonists kept coming, 
mostly from the northern provinces of France and Nor- 
mandy. Among them was Isaac Bethlo, a native of 
Calais, who arrived in 1652, and gave his name to the 
island in New York harbour known as Bedloe's. It is 
among the strange coincidences that this island, named 
after a French Huguenot refugee, should become the 
site for that colossal statue, "Liberty Enlightening the 



THE FOUNDERS OF NEW AMSTERDAM 217 

World," the gift of France to the United States nearly 

two and a half centuries later. From the outstretched Liberty 

arm of that figure gleams the light that illuminates the th" 'worid' °^ 

harbour, typical of the light of religious liberty which 

the persecuted of all lauds were here to enjoy. 

The French did not confine themselves to the town of 
New Amsterdam entirely, but formed settlements on 
Staten Island, the upper end of Manhattan, Long Island, 
and in Westchester County. 

Staten Island, in the bay of New York, was one of their French on 
favourite asylums. ' ' It might properly have been called isia^nd 
Huguenot Island." A considerable number of refugees 
settled there in 1657, locating their dwellings near the 
site of the present town of Richmond. The names of 
Guion, Dissosway, Bedell, Fontaine, Reseau, La Tourette, 
Rutan, Puillon, Mercereau, La Conte, Butteu, Mancey, 
Perrin, Larselene, De Pue, Corssen, Martineau, Tuenire, 
Morgan, Le Guine, and Jouerney, have been preserved. 
Like the descendants of the emigrants to Ulster County, 
the progeny of the refugees to Staten Island still occupy, 
in many cases, the land held by their ancestors. The 
number of the island colony was constantly increased by 
the coming of little groups of refugees. Any complete- 
ness of record is out of the question, but it is possible to 
add a few names to the above list. In 1662 came Pierre 
Martin, Gerard Ive, and Juste Grand ; the year following, 
Jerome Bovie, Pierre None, and Pierre Parmentier had 
the distinction of arriving on a vessel called the Spotted 
Cow. 

IV 

At the period just preceding the Revocation, and 
especially during the few years following that royal in- increasing 
vitation to exile, the emigration to New York was greatly 
accelerated. From France direct, from England, from 
the Antilles, the refugees came in a steady stream to the 
growing metropolis which afforded them all a welcome. 
It would neither be desirable nor possible to recount the 



Numbers 



218 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



names of all who came, but in the following pages will be 
found a brief record of some of the refugees who estab- 
lished homes here, founding a posterity which has given 
to America many men of eminence and a multitude of 
those citizens who, though less noted, go to make up the 
bone and sinew of the nation. 
The LeContes Guillaume Lc Contc, of Eouen, a descendant of the 
barons of Nonant on his mother's side, was one of these 
refugees. By his first marriage he had a son, Guillaume, 
and by his second marriage, a son, Pierre. Guillaume' s 
descendants are to be found among the well-known Seton 
and Bayley families, while the honoured name of Le 
Conte survives through Peter's offspring. As the Bay- 
ards, the Danas, and the Bowdoins have been publicists, 
so the descendants of the elder Le Conte have been men 
of science. Pierre was a noted surgeon of his day. His 
grandsons, Lewis and John LeConte, living together on 
their large plantation in Georgia, devoted themselves to 
the study of natural history, making contributions to our 
knowledge of the Georgia flora and fauna. Of Lewis's 
sons, John is among the front rank of American students 
of physics, while Joseph is probably our foremost geolo- 
gist. John LeConte' 8 son, John Lawrence LeConte, who 
died in 1883, was a brilliant naturalist, and is ranked as 
the ''greatest entomologist this country has yet pro- 
duced." 

Of a different family were Pierre and Jean Le Conte, 
who came to New York in 1687 and acquired an estate on 
the western side of Staten Island. 

Gabriel Minvielle, a native of Bordeaux, came to New 
York by way of Amsterdam in 1673. He took a high 
station in the province at once, being elected alderman 
within two years after his arrival. In 1684 he was mayor 
of the city, and served under four administrations. He 
was married to Judith Van Beack in 1674 but had no 
issue ; the family name was perpetuated, however, by the 
children of his brother Pierre. 



Minvielle 
Mayor 



THE FOUNDERS OF NEW AMSTERDAM 219 



Barbarie 



Montels 



111 1688 Jeaii Barbarie and his sons Pierre and Jean 
settled in New York. Barbarie acquired considerable 
wealth, was active in politics, and distinguished himself 
by taking the lead in the organization of the French 
church. His son Pierre became one of the prominent 
members of Trinity Chui'ch, and served at various times 
as wiirden and vestryman. 

Jean Fouchart (Fouchard) a native of Duras, settled in pouch 
New York in 1704. Denis Lambert, of Bergerac, came 
in 1691. Lewis Lyron came in 1696, but made his final Lyron 
home in Milford, Conn. At his death he gave £200 to the 
French Church of Boston and £100 to the church in New 
Rochelle. Pierre Montels, of Canet, was naturalized in 
England and came to New York in 1702. He had been a 
prosperous iron manufacturer, and before leaving home 
he had deeded his property to his son-in-law, Noe Cazalet, 
who was outwardly a ' ' new convert. ' ' When Cazalet was 
examined by the priests as to his orthodoxy, he rei^lied 
that he had told his children to attend the mass, but that 
as for himself "it must come from God." Shortly after 
making this declaration he, too, found it best to come to 
New York. 

From Sedan came Jacques Tiphaine, the ancestor of the 
Tiffany family, distinguished merchants of New York. 
Henry Collier, who founded the important American 
family of Colliers, was a native of Paris. He reached 
England in 1681, but setting out on a trading voyage in Coiiier 
1686 he had the misfortune to be shipwrecked on the 
French coast and was promptly put in prison. He made 
good his escape a second time, however, and subsequently 
came to New York. Claude Requa, the ancestor of the 
Requa family of New York and Pennsylvania, was a child Requa 
when his parents decided to come to America. The story 
of his emigration, which is not unlike that of thousands 
of others, is as follows : " They departed in the night, to 
save their lives, leaving the greater part of their property, 
which they could not convert into money. There were 



Tiphaine 
The Tiffany 
Family 



The Escape 
from France 



220 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Peril of 
Twelve 
Families 



Legrand 



Cousseau 



Crommelin 



eleven other families that went at the same time. The 
priests used to search every house where they imagined 
that Bibles were concealed or meetings held. They con- 
cealed their Bible for some time, but finally it was dis- 
covered and taken away. They managed, however, to re- 
tain some leaves, which were concealed under the bottom 
of a chair. The twelve families fled by night from Paris 
to La Eochelle, where they continued for some time. But 
intelligence from Paris to La Eochelle soon detected their 
several abodes. Their houses were to be broken into on 
a certain night. They would all have been cut off, had it 
not been for a good man, a Catholic, who had become ac- 
quainted with them. He gave them notice, so they fled 
the night before, at about one or two o'clock. The twelve 
families muffled the wheels of their wagons, so as not to 
make any noise, but they were discovered on the way and 
pursued to a river, before they were overtaken. Ten 
families got over the stream in safety, but two were taken. 
The others succeeded in getting aboard a shij) which 
sailed for America." During the voyage over a plague 
broke out on shipboard and many of the passengers died, 
among them being both of Claude Eequa's parents. 

Pierre Legrand, native of Hahain, was naturalized in 
England in 1682. In 1684 he was in New York, as his 
application for membership in the Dutch Eeformed 
Church shows. He seems to have lived for a year or so in 
Kingston, N. Y. , and then returned to New York to engage 
in the tobacco trade. 

Among those who accepted the articles of capitulation 
by which New Amsterdam became New York we find the 
name of Jacques Cousseau, one of the French citizens, 
who had attained prominence. 

The well-known Crommelin family is descended from 
Daniel Crommelin, son of a wealthy manufacturer of Saint 
Quentin. He fied to England, from thence to Jamaica, 
and finally settled in New York. His sons Charles and 
Isaac established the ancient country-seat of the family in 




John Jay 
First President 




Frederick J. De Peyster 
Third President 




T. J. Oakley Rliinelander 
Treasurer 




William Jay 
Fourth and Present President 




Mrs. James M. Lawton 
Secretary 



EX-PKESIDEXTS AND PRESENT OPTICERS OF THE HUGUENOT 
SOCIETY OF AMERICA 



THE FOUNDERS OF NEW AMSTERDAM 221 

Ulster County, named "Gricourt" after the old home in 
France. 

The New York Chevaliers are descended from Jean Ic 
Chevalier, who was probably related to the other emi- chevaliers 
grants of that name who settled in Philadelphia and 
Charleston. He married Marie de la Plaine in the Dutch 
Church in 1G92. From Normandy came Frangois le 
Comte, who was married to Catharine Lavandier in 1693. 
He seems to have been one of the victims of the laws LeComte 
which allowed the priests to bring up Huguenot children in 
the Roman faith, for before his marriage he was compelled 
to make abjuration. 

From Rouen came Jean Cancel, Pierre Chapron, and 
Abraham Dupont before the close of the centui-y. Daniel 
Marchand, of Caen, came before 1692. Andr6 Foucault, Foucauit 
descended from a family of Poitou that was noted for the 
sufferings it had eudured in the cause of religion, was in 
New York by the year 1691. In 1703 the governor 
authorized him to open a French and English school in 
the city of New York. About the same time came 
Zacharie Angevin, likewise of Poitou. In 1701 he moved 
out of the city to New Rochelle, where his descendants 
were numerous for many years. Jacob Baillergeau, of 
Loudon in Touraine, was naturalized in New York in 1701, 
and in 1704 was licensed to practice medicine in New 
York and New Jersey. Thomas Bayeux, of Caen, came 
to New York shortly after the Revocation, and became 
one of the leading merchants of the city. He married 
Madeleine Boudiuot in 1703 and left a large posterity. 

Daniel Targe, of Port des Barques, was among the other 
Narragansett settlers, and on the breaking up of the set- 
tlement removed to New York, where his descendants 
survive under the transformed names of Targer and Tar- 
get. Francois Bouquet, a ship captain from the same 
port, fled to England in 1681, coming to New York to- 
wards the close of the centmy. He was a man of prop- 
erty and well-known in shipping circles. The Tillou 



Families 



222 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Basset 



Quintard 



Prominent 
Factor 



family, of which the late Francis E. Tillou was a member, 
was established by Pierre Tillou, who fled from Saiutonge 
in 1681. Jean Elizee was a fellow townsman of Frauyois 
Bouquet, and married his daughter Jeanne in New York 
in 1701. 

Other immigrants with earliest known dates, were 
as follows : Marc Boisbelleau, 1685 ; Andre Joliu, 
1686 ; Louis Carre, 1686 ; Gilles Gaudineau, 1686 ; John 
Pelletreau, 1687 ; Peter Eeverdy, 1687 ; John de Neuf- 
ville, 1687 ; Jacques Dubois, 1688 ; Jean Pinaud, died 
1688 ; Aman and Gousse Bonnin, 1688 ; Daniel Mer- 
ceveau, 1689 ; Jean Equier, 1689 ; Paul Drouhet, 
1869 ; Andre Paillet, 1690 ; Daniel Lambert, 1691 ; 
Daniel Coudret, 1691 ; Jean Piervaux, 1692 ; Louis 
Geneuil, 1692; Elie Eembert, 1692; Jean Eoux, 1692; 
Charles Lavigue, 1692 ; Jacques Many, 1692 ; Elie 
Chardavoinne, 1692 ; Jean Coulou, 1692 ; Jean Chadaine, 
1693 ; Elie Charron, 1693 ; Estienne Ai'chambaud, 1693 ; 
Isaac Quintard, 1693 ; (removed later to Stamford, Conn., 
where his descendants are still to be found ; Bishop 
Quintard, of Tennessee, is a member of this family) ; 
Pierre Girrard, 1694 ; Jean Doublet, 1695 ; Jean Boisseau, 
1698 ; Isaac Boutineau, 1698 ; Elie Badeau, 1698 ; David 
Fume, 1698 ; Jacques Vinaux, 1699 ; Jean Paget, 1699 ; 
Pierre Trochou, 1700 ; Andr6 Lamoureux, 1700 ; Jacques 
Dc'sbrosses, 1701 ; Pierre, Jean and Abraham Eolland, 
1702 ; Pierre Arondeau, 1703 ; Pierre Durand, 1706 ; 
Jacques Bergeron, 1712 ; Jean Dragaud, 1729 ; Daniel 
Gillard, 1792 ; Pierre Eusland, 1792. 

These names indicate that in the early life of New 
York the French played a more prominent part than in 
any other centre, not excepting Boston. Socially they 
were a most effective factor, tempering the tone of society, 
and in large measure creating it. That so many of the 
streets of the city, as Desbrosses, Lispeuard, etc., were 
named after the French citizens, shows that they were 
men of note in the business and public life of the time. 



THE FOUNDEES OF NEW AMSTERDAM 223 

The intermingling of the French and Dutch ]3roduced a 
strong and charming type of character, in which the best 
traits of both races a^jpear. Indeed, wherever the Hugue- 
not blood entered, it improved the type. In some the 
blood was mixed before coming to this country. Such 
cases are illustrated by Professor Johann Daniel Gros, 
minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in New York, 
and later occupant of the chair of intellectual and moral 
philosophy in Columbia College (now Columbia Uni- 
versity), and author of the first text-book on moral phi- 
losophy published in America. His family was French 
and German from the Alsace-Lorraine section where 
French and German commingled. His brother, Loreuz 
Gros, pushed on beyond Albany up the Mohawk Valley, 
and built near Fonda the first gentleman's mansion west 
of Albany, using brick and tile imported from Holland ; a 
mansion still standing as strong as when built, and long a 
landmark in its section. He was a captain in the Conti- 
nental Army, and also an officer in the War of 1812. 
From the fact that these families spoke German, they 
were indiscriminately classed among the Dutch element 
and their French descent was obscured. Without dates 
of coming are the names of Crucheron, Martiline, Ganne- 
pains, Regrenier, Casses and Cannon. 

Huguenots were the first settlers in that part of Man- Huguenots 
hattan now known as Harlem (an account of their settling Hariem 
being given in the sketch of the De Forest family) ; and 
when the village of New Harlem was laid out in 1G58, 
nearly one half of the thirty -two heads of families in the 
settlement were Huguenots. Other of the hardier souls 
among the French likewise pushed out from the original 
settlement ; fourteen families joined in founding Bush- 
wick, others went to Flushing, where they introduced the on Long 
fine fruit culture which distinguished that Long Island 
city for so many years. Later, in 1677, David Demarest 
gathered together a few families and formed the settle- 
ment that has since become Hackensack, New Jersey. 



224 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Gabriel 
Bernon 



The French 
Club 



V 

After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the immi- 
gration to New York was so considerable that the French 
became an imj^ortant factor in politics. Governor Lord 
Bellomont wrote to the Board of Trade in 1698 : "I must 
acquaint your lordships that the French here are very 
factious and their numbers considerable. At the last elec- 
tion they ran in with the Jacobite party, and have been 
since so insolent as to boast they had turned the scale and 
could balance the interests as they pleased." That Gov- 
ernor Bellomont, who was not in good favour with the 
people, did not despise this French influence in public 
affairs is proved by the fact that he tried to gain them to 
his side, and to this end invited Gabriel Bernon, one of 
the most influential Huguenots in the country, a resident 
of Providence, to come to his aid. Bernon did his best 
in this direction, with but partial success. The French 
were disposed to independence and to choose for them- 
selves in politics as in religion. 

Among the considerable social factors of the city in its 
day was the French Club, which was established largely 
through the influence of the Bayards, the family of which 
the long time United States Senator from Delaware was a 
descendant. French became the fashionable language of 
the new community. From 1648 to 1658 the French ele- 
ment of North America had become so important that, 
according to Bancroft, the public documents were issued 
in French as well as in Dutch and English. It is esti- 
mated that by 1688 some two hundred Huguenot families 
had found a home in New York, or about one quarter of 
the population. In 1661 half the inhabitants of Harlem 
were Huguenots. 




THE FR 



FRENCH CHURCH IN NEW YORK AT THE PRESENT TIME 



CHAPTER II 
THE FEENCH CHURCH IN NEW YORK 



D 



URING tlie earlier years of the colony the French The Earlier 
had no church of their own. In 1628, when the 



first minister, Rev. Jonas Michaelius, of the Re- 
formed Chui-ch of Holland, came to New Amsterdam, 
services were conducted for both the French and the 
Dutch. Of the two elders who were chosen, one was a 
Huguenot, the "honourable director" Peter Minuit. 
Pastor Michaelius himself left the following account of 
this first organization : ''We have had, at the first ad- 
ministration of the Lord's Supper, full fifty communi- 
cants, Walloons and Dutch : not without great joy and 
comfort for so many. Of these, a portion made their first 
Confession of Faith before us (he probably is referring to 
some of the unregenerate traders), and others exhibited 
their church certificates. Some had forgotten to bring 
their certificates with them, not thinking that a church 
would be formed and established here ; and some, who 
had brought them, had lost them unfortunately in a gen- 
eral conflagration ; but they were admitted upon the sat- 
isfactory testimony of others to whom they were known, 
and also upon their daily good deportment. We admin- 
ister the Holy Sacrament of the Lord once in four months, 
provisionally, until a larger number of people shall 
otherwise require. The Walloons have no services on 
Sundays, other than that in the Dutch language, of which 
they understand very little. A portion of the Walloons 
live far away, and could not come on account of the heavy 
rains and storms, so that it was neither advisable, nor 
was it possible, to appoint any special service for so small 

225 



226 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

a number witli so mucli uncertainty. Nevertheless, the 
Lord's Supper was administered to them in the French 
language, and according to the French mode, with a 
preceding discourse, which I had before me in wi'itiug, 
as I could not trust myself extemporaneously." 



Dutch Aid 



Church 
Founded by 
1659 



First House 
x688 



II 

The Dutch are to be highly commended for the aid they 
gave the French in their religious services. In 1652 Eev. 
Samuel Drisius, a German, was called to be a colleague 
to Eev. Joannes Megapolensis, of the Dutch Eeformed 
Church, for the reason that he was able to preach both in 
Dutch and French. The French were thus kindly pro- 
vided for until they had a fully organized church and a 
preacher of their own, which was not later than 1659. 
In 1682 there came a new era for them religiously with 
the arrival of Eev. Pierre Daille. He was a rare spirit. 
He applied himself at once to the difficult task of preach- 
ing the gospel to his brethren scattered through the 
province of New York. He reorganized the French 
Church of New York, which prospered under his care 
until 1692. Even Governor Audros, who spoke and un- 
derstood both Low Dutch and French, became an attend- 
ant at the French services, which were held, like the 
English, in the Dutch Church within the fort. Mr. Daill6 
next revived the church on Staten Island, then visited 
New Paltz and established a church there. He also 
founded a church near Hackensack, and repeatedly vis- 
ited all the Huguenot settlements, like a modern Paul 
visiting the churches. He was, says Selyns, his colleague, 
' ' full of fire, godliness and learning, and maintained the 
cause of Jesus with untiring zeal." 

It was in the year 1688 that the French first built a 
house of worship for their exclusive use. This was a 
very humble chapel on Marketfield Street, near the Bat- 
tery, and it ' ' was here that, every Sabbath day, the peo- 
ple assembled from twenty miles around, from Long 



THE FEENCH CHURCH IN NEW YORK 227 

Islaud, Stateu Island, New Rochelle, and other points, 
for ijublic worship. Every street near was filled with 
wagons as early as Saturday evening, and in them many 
passed the night and ate their frugal Sunday repast, pre- 
senting a touching spectacle of purity and zeal." 

This house proved too small, and they were allowed to 
buy laud for a second and larger, a plain stone edifice 
nearly square, which was built in 1704, directly opposite Pine street 
the Custom House on Pine Street. This was the same 
year in which the French in Boston bought the land for 
their church, but were not permitted by the Congrega- 
tional authorities to build. The church in New York 
was named " L'Eglise du St. Esprit" ( The Church of the 
Holy Spirit ), and still bears the name. The congrega- 
tion worshipped in Pine Street until 1831, and then re- 
moved to what was the upper part of the city at the time, 
the corner of Church and Franklin Streets, where a white church street 
marble edifice, noted in its day, was erected. Mean- ^ ^* 
while, in 1804, the church had become Episcopalian in 
affiliation, and as such still exists in the present Church 
du St. Esprit, which has its foui'th home in a fine stone 
edifice in Twenty- seventh Street, near Madison Avenue, Twenty- 

, J.1 T^ 1 . . ■ • -, r^-, ■ ■, SeventhStreet 

where the French service is maintained. Slow in its or- Site 
ganizatiou, the church reached its highest point of devel- 
opment in the sixty years from 1690 to 1750, declining in 
the next half century, largely because of the Revolution- 
ary War. After 1804 there was a new lease of life. 

Among the names of the members are such fam- 
ilies as Quintard, Pintard, Maynard, LeConte, Lorillard, 
Lamoureaux, Iselin, Guion, Girard, Galaudet, Dui^uy 
(Depew), Anne Bureau, Basset, Bayard, Badeau and 
Allaire, which have figured in the professional, com- 
mercial and social life of the metropolis. 

Ill 

For over forty years Rev. Louis Rou was pastor of the Pastor rou 
French Church. In this period trouble arose over the 



228 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

absorption of the Frencli Church in New Eochelle by the 
Episcopalians. Gradually the influences were working 
in this direction, and in 1804 the Episcopal liturgy was 
adopted in New York as the only means of saving the 
church. Among the names of the pew owners at that 
time are Jacob Schieffelin, John E. Livingston, C. Low, 
John Pintard, Guliau Verplanck, all names thoroughly 
identified with the growth of the city, and some of them 
still prominent, as that of Low, the family from which 
came the reform Mayor of New York, Honourable Seth 
Lowe, formerly president of Columbia University. But 
the most eminent name on the roll was that of Jay, which 
ranks high in American history. 

During Mr. Eou's pastorate also, a great excitement 
was occasioned by a party question. The merits of the 
case, according to Waldron, were as follows : Stephen 
De Lancey, a wealthy merchant, and among the chief 
patrons of the church, was dissatisfied with Mr. Eou, and 
procured his dismissal for his want of zeal, and some in- 
novations which he had introduced to the church dis- 
Question of cipline. The deposed minister appealed from the decision 

Citizenship ^ ^ ^^ 

of the congregation to Governoi' Burnet and his council, 
who sustained the appellant. Both parties published in- 
dignant memorials on a dispute which had proceeded so 
far that, when De Lancey was elected to the Legislative 
Assembly, the governor refused to administer to him the 
oath of office, alleging that he was not a British subject. 
De Lancey contended that he had left France previous to 
the Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes, and had received 
denizenship, under the great seal of Great Britain, from 
James the Second, previous to his abdication. De Lancey 
was proved to be right, and the Assembly sustained his 
claims against the governor. Mr. Eou's assistant, the 
Eev. Mr. Mouliuard, took part against his superior. The 
consistory stated that they had paid Mr. Eou in full of 
all demands, and could dismiss him when they pleased. 
Still, the council decided in Mr. Eou's favour, and directed 




Jkiy.nii iloiisc, i.son, iiotii Street, Harlem, near I'lrst Avenue 
Home of the Bayard Family in New York 




The Rappelyea Estate, foot of Thirty-fifth Street, North Riv£ 



THE FRENCH CHURCH IN NEW YORK 229 

that the ministers who should officiate on the following 
Sabbath in the church, must proclaim the same decision 
publicly, after divine service in the forenoon. All these 
efforts, however, did not produce reconciliation, as Mr. 
Moulinard was much opposed to the Church of England. 
A featm-e of the case was the proving of citizenship on 
the part of the French claimant. It should be said, in 
praise of Mr. De Lancey and his following that they ac- 
cepted the adverse decision, and did not obstruct the 
pastor in his work. Few churches in the state or country 
have had a longer or more honourable history than the 
French Church in New York, which has enrolled so 
many influential men and women, known for uprightness 
and philanthropy. 

The church is at present actively engaged in i)hilan- The church 
thropic effort. But recently it purchased the property ° *^ 
adjoining its fine house of worship, on the corner of 
Fourth Avenue and Twenty -seventh Street, for $150,000, 
as an investment. The title will be held in the name of 
some of the prominent members. The object is to pro- 
cure sufficient funds from rentals to found an institution 
for homeless men. If this investment results as success- 
fully as others which the astute members of the church 
have made in the jDast, ample provision will be made for 
the proposed charity. This movement is one of the 
many good movements instituted by the present pastor, 
Rev. Alfred V. Wittmeyer, who has been in charge nearly 
thirty years. For a long time the church has been the 
real friend of homeless men. Every Sunday evening a 
company of the park bench loungers attend the evening 
services, the collection at which is used to provide bed 
and supper for the homeless and destitute. The work 
among this class has led to the founding of an institution 
which will be to many a means of reformation and new 
beginning. It is peculiarly fitting that such work should 
be done by a church which dates back to the days of 
homelessuess, exile and persecution, and whose first 



230 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

members knew well the meaning of a helping hand in 
time of need. 

IV 

Provid^ The harmony of the French colony was much disturbed 

by reports, carefully circulated, that they were inviting 
an invasion of New York by their compatriots in Can- 
ada. In order to avoid the odium which must neces- 
sarily arise from this scandal, they called a meeting and 
framed the following address : 

To His Excellency Lord Cornhury, Governor of New York : 

We, the undersigned, pray your Excellency to inquire into the re- 
port that we were inviting our countrymen to invade this province ; 
the report has been spread throughout the whole State, and proves 
pernicious to all the French Refugees in general, and disturbs their 
peace and quiet, as it obstructs that affection and familiarity which 
they had formerly enjoyed with the other inhabitants of this province, 
to their grief and resentment. We pray your Excellency to instruct 
your printer to publish the result, for the pleasure and vindication of 
our reputation in this respect. And your Petitioners, as in all duty 
bound, will ever pray. 

The Huguenots also had some connection with Trinity 
parish, through one of their ministers. In 1685, the Rev. 
Mr. Neau, with his wife and daughter, left France for 
America, accomjianied by other Huguenots. The Rev. 
Mr. Vesey, the first rector of Trinity Church, api^oiuted 
Mr. Neau his catechist, which office he filled for several 
years, and he might be considered the founder of Trinity 
School — an institution distinguished among the noble 
charities of the city. This excellent man closed his prof- 
itable life in 1722, and was buried near the northern 
porch of old Trinity, where he had long worshipped and 
served. A granddaughter of his married the brave Cap- 
tain Oliver H. Perry, who was ever ready to defend his 
country ; and their only daughter, Elizabeth Mason 
Perry, married the Rev. Francis Vinton, D. D., long 
time rector of Trinity. 



CHAPTEE III 
NEW ROCHELLE, THE HUGUEIS^OT SETTLEMENT 



N the year 1689 the lord of Pelham Manor, Mr. John V^ p^ii Land 

•^ ' Bought 1689 



I Pell, deeded 6,000 acres of land to Jacob Leisler, a 
prominent Dntch merchant of New York. Leisler, 
who had the misfortune to be hung a couple of years after 
this transaction, on a charge of high treason, made the 
purchase on behalf of a baud of refugees from La Rochelle, 
and the 6,000 acres of laud which he took over form the 
present township of New Rochelle, in Westchester County. 
Some of the Huguenots who joined in the settlement 
had lived in New York for some years previously, while 
others came from the West Indies, where they had hastily 
sought refuge ; but the greater part of the colonists came 
from England, as tradition has it, in one of the King's 
ships. They were Eochellese who left their city four 
years before the Eevocation, fled to the neighbouring Isle 
of Rhe, and thence on British ships to hospitable Eng- 
land. The exact date of their lauding in America is not 
known, but it must have been during the year 1689 ; local 
tradition points out their lauding place as Bonnefoy's 
Point, on what is now known as Davenport's Neck. The 
Eochelle colonists were not the first Huguenots to settle 
within the limits of the Pell Grant, for in 1686 we find 
Maria Graton, widow of William Cothouneau, conveying 
a tract of land to Alexander Allaire in what is now New 
Eochelle, and Allaire himself sold a piece of land to 
Theophilus Forestier one year later. 

During the year following the arrival of the refugees Early 
there was much suffering in the settlement, as the follow- "^'^'^^^•p^ 

231 



232 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

ing ''humble petition of ye inhabitants of NewEocheUe, 
humbly showeth." 

Petition for That yoiir petitioners having been forced by the late persecutions in 

**^'P France to forsake their country and estates, and flye to ye Protestant 

Princes. Their Majestyes by their proclamation of ye 25th of Aprill, 
1689, did grant them an azile (asylum) in all their dominions, with 
their Eiyall protection ; wherefore they were invited to come and buy 
lands in the province, to the end that they might by their labour help 
the necessityes of their familyes, and did spend therein all their smale 
store, with the help of their friends, whereof, they did borrow 
great sums of money. They are above twenty (Ms. torn) poor and 
needy, not able . . . ties and clothing, much . . . they did 
hitherto beare above their . . . thereby reduced to a lamentable 
condition, as having been compelled to sell for that purpose the things 
which are most necessary for their use. Wherefore your petitioners 
humbly pray, that your Excellency may be pleased to take their case 
in serious consideration, and out of Charity and pity, to grant them 
for some years what help and priveleges your Excellency shall think 
convenient, and your petitioners in duty bound shall ever pray, etc. 

Thauvet Elsi Cothouneau. 

II 

Name of Auioug the number of those who had lived in New 

York a year or so previous to the coming of the main band 
of settlers, and who later joined them in New Eochelle, 
were Theroulde, Allaire, Le Vilain, Machet, Bongraud, 
Thauver, Mercier, Mastier and Jouneau. The town rec- 
ords, which were begun in 1699, give us the names of the 
freeholders at several different periods. In 1708 the land 
was divided among the following : Daniel Lambert, Elie 
Badeau, Daniel Giraud, Gregoire Gougeon, Daniel Bon- 
net, Elie de Bonrepos, Jean Magnon, Besly, Isaac 
Mercier, Bartholomew Le Eoux, Pierre Valleau, Jacob 
Scurman, Ambroise Sycart, Benjamin Faneuil, Alexander 
Allaire, Jean Pemeau, J. Levillaiu, Daniel Eayueau, 
Guilleaume Le Counte, FrangOis Le Counte, Zacharie 
Angevin, and Frederick Schorman. The next sixteen 
years must have seen many changes in the growing town, 
for the list of freeholders for 1724 has a totally different 



Freeholders 



NEW EOCHELLB 233 

complexion. The following names were signed to a deed 
''granting to Anthony Lespinard a portion of land for 
the erection of a mill" : Besly, Oliver Besly, Simon 
Mabe, Francis Ganyard, Frederick Scurman, Gilleaume 
Clapp, John Clark, John Martin, Estienne Gueriu, Beuj. 
Petit, Josias Le Conte, Abel Devoux, Samuel Barnard, 
John Moras, Peter Samson, John Coutaut, F. Bolt, Jr., 
Zaccarie Angevin, Pierre Elisse Gallaudet, Isaac Mercier, 
Lancinie Thauvet, Auam Guion, Andre Naudain, Alex- 
ander Allaire, Gregoire Gougeon, James Roubet, Hemy 
Shadden, Rachel Neiifille. 

In 1695 letters of denization were issued to Francis Le 
Count, David de Bonrepos, Alexander Allaire, Henry 
Beignon, Esaye Valleau, Andrew Thaunet, David Bonne- 
foy, Louis Guion, and Louis Guion his son, Pierre Das, 
Pierre Palcot, Andrew Naudin, and Andrew and Louis 
his sons, Theophile Fourrestier, Charles Fourrestier, Am- 
broise Sycard, and Ambroise, and Daniel and Jacques his 
sons, Guilliaume Landrin, Guilliaume Cothouneau, Isaac 
Caillard, Marie Cothouneau, and Guilliaume Cothouneau 
her son, Jean Neufuille, Estensie Lavinge and Jean 
Coutanti, of foreign birth. 

Emigrants continued to come to New Rochelle up to Daniel 
1700. One of these was Daniel Bonnet, perhaps the last ^°""^* 
to come. He purchased land from Bartholomew Le 
Roux, and the property is still held by his descend- 
ants. The following incident is related of his flight from 
France : 

"Daniel and his wife were attempting to reach the 
French coast with two small children concealed in the story os 
paniers of a donkey, covered with fresh vegetables. The 
mother having enjoined upon the children to keep perfect 
silence, no matter what might occur, they had scarcely 
commenced their journey when they were overtaken by a 
gendarme who demanded to know what the paniers con- 
tained. The mother replied, 'fresh vegetables for the 
market.' As if doubting her words, the rough soldier 



234 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



The 
Lispenards 



rode up to the side of the donkey, and thrust his sword 
into the nearest panier, exclaiming as he rode away, ' Bon 
voyage, mes amis ! ' The agony of the parents may be 
conceived, until the soldier was well out of sight, when 
the panier was immediately opened, and one child was 
found to have been pierced through the calf of his leg." 
Another of the later arrivals was Margaret Lepperner, 
who came with her two children, Anthony and Susanna. 
Anthony became the founder of a well-known family, the 
Lispenards ; Lepperner being merely a malformation of 
the name due to the peculiar orthographic methods then 
in vogue. A French diary in the possession of the 
Lispenard family, dating back to the days before the 
Revocation, contains many interesting and pious entries 
of which the two following are fair examples : 



From a 
Family Diary 



A Description 
of the Place 
1704 



" September 20th, 1671. — I have been married to Abel de Forge. I 
beg the good Lord, that He gives us the grace to live a long time in 
His holy fear, and that it will please Him to give us a good paradise 
at the end." 

" October 2d, 1672. — My wife has been confined of a girl Margaret, 
at about ten o'clock of the day, on a Wednesday. Margaret died, and 
has given her spirit to God, between six and seven o'clock of the after- 
noon." 

Ill 

From the pen of Madame Knight, who passed through 
New Rochelle in the year 1704, comes the following brief 
description of the village at that time : "On the 22d 
of December we set out for New Rochelle, where being 
come, we had good entertainment, and recruited ourselves 
very well. This is a very pretty place, well compact, 
and good, handsome houses, clean, good and passable 
roads, and situated on a navigable river, abundance of 
land, well fenced and cleared allalong as we passed, which 
caused in me a love to the place, which I could have 
been content to live in it. Here we rid over a bridge 
made of one entire stone, of such a breadth that a cart 
might pass with safety, and to spare. It lay over a pas- 




Berrian House 




Jean Machet House 
OLD HUGUKXOT HOUSES AT NKW ROCHELLE 



NEW ROCHELLE 235 

sage cut through the rock to convey water to a mill uot 
far off. Here are three fine taverns within call of each 
other, and very good provision for travellers." 

Very early in its history New Eochelle became a place a Resort 
of some resort, "not only for the acquirement of the 
French language, but on account of the hospitality and 
politeness of its inhabitants." And although there were 
no regular schools in the town for some time after its es- 
tablishment, the children receiving their instruction at 
home, New Eochelle became rather famous for the number Good schools 
of sons of well-to-do citizens who sent them there to be 
educated. The most illustrious of the boys who were 
thus trained in the homes of New Eochelle were John 
Jay, who is treated of elsewhere in this volume. General jay 
Philip Schuyler, the Eevolutionary soldier, and Wash- schuyier 
ington Irving — three pupils whom the lay schoolmaster Irving 
of New Eochelle might well have been proud of. When 
we remember that, in spite of their poverty for a short 
period dm-ing the first trying days of settlement in the 
New World, these founders of New Eochelle were not 
mere fortune seekers, but men of birth and breeding and 
of good estate in France — of a far higher average of Centre of 
wealth and culture than the English and Dutch of New 
York — we need not be surprised that the little village on 
the Sound soon gained a reputation for elegance and cul- 
ture which far surpassed that of its neighbours. 

IV 

The settlers of New Eochelle were not able to build a 
church for themselves at once. For the first three years church Going 
they attended communion service at the French church in 
New York which stood on Marketfield Street. From 
New Eochelle to New^ York was a distance of twenty -three 
miles by road, and the refugees admirably evinced their 
devotion to their faith by walking the entire distance 
there and back in order to take part in the Lord's Sup- Genuine 

A Devotion 

per. Some of the women and the weaker children were 



236 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

placed in the few rude carts which the emigrants pos- 
sessed, and then the picturesque caravan set out on its long 
journey to church, the men and the remainder of the 
women walking beside the carts, many of them bare- 
footed, yet all rejoicing, and showing by their happy 
faces and the ringing hymns they sang that they took 
their privations lightly. All lesser evils were swallowed 

Joy in Liberty up iu the great good for which they were never tired of 
giving thanks to God — the freedom to worship God openly 
and without a^shadow of misgiving, and the knowledge 
that they were laying up for their children and their 
children's children a like heritage. But it must not be 
thought that these exiles did not love their native land. 
They left France with regret in their hearts, and often 
turned towards their old home with pity and with long- 
ing. Of one old man it is related that every evening at 
sunset he would go down to the shore of the Sound, look 
off across the water in the direction of France and sing 
one of Marot's hymns, while the slow tears fell upon the 
sand at his feet. Gradually others met with him, until 
there gathered daily a little group of exiles to pray and 
sing. 
As to this attendance upon church in New York, the 

True^to their f^ct is attested by the celebrated Huguenot, Dr. John 
Pintard, the founder of the Historical Society, who says 
in his Becollections : "The holy sacrament was ad- 
ministered to the Huguenots, at New Rochelle, four times 
a year, namely, Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide, and the 
middle of September. During the intermissions that 
occurred, the communicants walked to New York for that 
purpose. Prior to their departure on Sunday, they always 
collected the young children, and left them in the care of 
friends, while they set off early in the morning, and 
walked to the city barefooted, carrying their shoes and 
stockings in their hands. They were accustomed to stop 
at a rock, about twelve miles from the city, to rest and 
take refreshments, where they put on their shoes and 



ISnEW EOCHELLE 237 

pursued their journey, and arrived at the French chmch 
in time for service. The earliest French church in New 
York was in Marketfield Street, near the Battery. It 
was a very humble edifice, but still, being the house of 
God, sufiicient to attract the worshippers from States- 
Island and New Eochelle on the Sabbath, where they 
used to chant Marot's hymns — those animating strains 
that had so often cheered their pious fathers at the stake 
in the time of the bloody persecution of their fatherland. 
With these hymns in their heads, and the little Testa- 
ments which they brought fi-om France concealed in 
their hair, they enjoyed that peace of mind which passeth 
knowledge, unknown to their persecutors." 

The first church building was erected in 1692, and was The First 
a small edifice constructed of wood. Provision for a worship 
church had been made in the grant of laud to Jacob ^^ 
Leisler, it being there declared that John Pell, lord of 
the manor, with the consent of Rachel, his wife, did (be- 
sides the six thousand acres) give and grant ' ' to the said 
Jacob Leisler, the fui'ther quantity of one hundi'ed acres 
of land for the use of the French church, erected, or to 
be erected by the inhabitants of the said tract of laud." 
The church stood on the old Boston post road, near the 
location of the present Presbyterian church. About the 
time that the church was built Louis Bongrand donated 
a piece of land forty paces square to be used as a " church- 
yard to bury their dead." And subsequently a house church Yard 
and about three and a half acres of laud were given " by 
the town to the church forever." 

It would seem that the emigrants had a pastor two Notes from 
years before they had a church, as is shown by the fol- *^^ Pastor 
lowing note to Governor Leisler : 

Sir : I have too much respect for your orders not to execute theiu 
punctual!}', so that pursuant to what yon did me the honour lately to 
give me, I spoke to the principals of this new colony about the nomi- 
nation of some persons for the vacant oflSce of Justice of the Peace ; 
but as the condition you require — that is a knowledge of the English 



238 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



The French 
in Citizenship 



tongue — has precluded them from making the election of two or three 
according to your order, they cannot pitch upon any except Mr. 
Strang, saving your approbation which, if you Avill have the goodness 
to accord them, you will oblige them infinitely. Mr. Piuton has also 
delivered me, this day, an order to be communicated to the sd (said) 
inhabitants relative to the election and nomination of Assessors, Col- 
lectors, and Commissaries, for levying, imposing, and receiving taxes 
for his Majesty's service. The time is very short, since it is the 
twenty-seventh inst., they must be at Westchester; but they look for 
some forbearance and delay from your goodness in case, notwithstand- 
ing their diligence, they may not be able punctually to answer. It is 
not through any unwillingness to exert themselves to meet it, but you 
know their strength as well as I. Notwithstanding, despite their 
poverty and misery, they will never lack in submission to the orders 
on behalf of his Majesty, both for the public good and interest. This 
they protested to me, and I pray you to be persuaded therepf. I am 
with respect, and I pray God for your prosperity, sir, 

Your very humble and very obedient servant, 

D. BONREPOS, 

Pastor of this French Colony. 
N. Eockelle, 29 Ocfob., 1690. 



School 

Master's 

License 



The period of Dr. David Bourepos' pastorate in New 
Eocbelle was a short oue, for in 1694 he went to the 
church at Staten Island. lu 1695 the Eev. John Miller, 
describing the province of New York, says, "There is a 
meeting house at Eichmond (Staten Island) of which Dr. 
Bourepos is pastor." This charge he retained until his 
death in 1734. 

His brother, Elias Bom^epos, lived in New Eochelle, 
and like the pastor was a man of learning and attain- 
ments. In 1705 he was licensed to keep school, as the 
following shows : 



Edward Visco't Cornbury, Capt. -General and Governor-in-Chief of 
ye provinces of New York, New Jersies and Terr'es depending thereon 
in America and vice-admiral of ye same, &c. To Elias Bon Eepose 
greeting you are hereby impowered and lycen'd to keep school within 
ye town of New Rochelle in ye county of Westchester and carefully 
and diligentlj' to instruct ye children under yo' care and tuition in ye 
art of reading and writing during my pleasure, given under my hand 



KEW EOCHELLE 



239 



and seal at New York this 23d day of June, 1705, and in ye 4th year 
of her ma'tya Keigu. Coknbury. 

The next miuister at New Eochelle was tlie Eev. Daniel Pastor Bondet 
Bondet. He had been a student of the seminary at Geneva, 
and upon the Eevocation fled into England where he was 
received into orders by the Bishoj) of London, He ac- 
companied the settlers to New Oxford, where he was en- 
gaged in missionary work among the Indians, and came 
to New Eochelle probably during the fall of 1695. He 
soon took a high place among the provincial clergy, and 
in 1704 we find the clergy of New York writing of him 
as follows : ' ' Mr. Daniel Bondet has gone further and 
done more in that good work (converting the heathen) 
than any Protestant minister that we know ; we commend 
him to your pious consideration as a person industrious 
in ye service of the church and his own nation, ye French, 
at New Eochelle." 

In 1709 the French Eeformed Church of New Eochelle Becoming 
(fonformed to the Church of England. The following is 1709 
an extract from a letter of Colonel Heathcote, who was 
instrumental in bringing the change to j)ass : 

At first Mr. Bondet used the French prayers, according to the 
Protestant churches of France ; and subsequently on every third Sun- 
day, as appears by the above letter, the Liturgy of the Church of Eng- 
land ; but in 1709 his congregation, with the exception of two indi- 
viduals, followed the example of their Reformed brethren in England, 
by conforming to the English Church. This memorable event is thus 
recorded in the charter : " That on the 12th day of June, in the year 
of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and nine, all the inhabitants 
of the township of New Eochelle, who were members of the said 
French Church, excepting two, unanimously agreed and consented to 
conform themselves, in the religious worship of their said Church, to 
the Liturgy and rites of the Church of England as established by law ; 
and by a solemn act or agreement did submit to, and put themselves 
under the protection of the same." 



Since the first wooden church had been built the uum- New stone 
ber of communicants had greatly increased, and in 1709 ^^"'^'^^ ^^^ 



240 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



A Church 
Secession 



Presbyterian 

Church 

Formed 



A Missionary 
Pastor 



Pastor 
Stouppe 



1727 



a license was procured for building a new one. The new 
church was begun in the summer of the following year 
and was completed that same autumn. It was of stone, 
nearly square in shape, and perfectly plain both outside 
and in. Of the building of this church a pious chronicler 
records that " so anxious were all to contribute something 
towards its completion, that even females carried stones 
in their hands, and mortar in their aprons, to complete 
the sacred work." 

Shortly after the conformation to the Episcopal Church, 
a schism arose to rend the harmony of New Rochelle. 
' ' The seceders erected a meeting-house, styled themselves 
' The French Protestant Congregation,' and remained 
violently opposed to their lawful pastors ; and not only 
so, but in opposition to their own founders, proscribed 
the Church of England in her doctrine, discipline, ordi- 
nances, usages, rites and ceremonies, as popish, rotten 
and unscriptural." Those were "parlous times," and 
if we may read between the lines, religious discussion 
waxed extremely warm in the otherwise peaceful village. 
The present Presbyterian Church is the flourishing 
progeny of the "seceders." 

Concerning Pastor Bondet the same active layman. 
Colonel Heathcote, writes : ' ' He is a good man, & preaches 
very intelligibly in English, which language he uses every 
third Sabbath, when he avails himself of the Liturgy ; he 
has done a great deal of service since his arrival in this 
country. His pay is only thirty pounds ($150) per 
anum." In 1714 this good man took the spiritual charge 
of the Mohegaus, or River Indians. In his reports he 
states that there were fifty communicants in his church. 
After labouring here twenty-seven years, he died in his 
sixty-ninth year, in 1722. 

The third minister was Rev. Pierre Stouppe, A. M. He 
gives some interesting information in a letter dated Decem- 
ber 11, 1727, about the early settlement of New Rochelle. 
He writes : ' ' The present number of inhabitants is about 



NEW EOCHELLE 241 

four hundred ; there is one dozen houses round the church, 
near each other, which gives the place the appearance ot 
a town. There are several French families settled within 
bounds of the settlement, who worship with the congrega- 
tion. Such was the commencement of the beautiful and 
picturesque village of New Eochelle. More than a 
century and a half have passed away since its founders 
immigrated to America, and their noble and holy princi- 
ples have left good influences, evidently discernible in 
the refinement, morals and religion of their descendants, The Bible 

' ° ' their Basis 

still bearing their patronymics. Let it not be forgotten 
that the Bible came with these early settlers, & was 
the foundation of their legislation. The Dutch and 
Lutheran families geuerallj^ unite with the chm-ch when 
the service is performed in English, & they bring their 
children to be baptized by the French ministers." There 
was no school in the place, and the parents supplied the 
deficiency by instructing their children. There were 
about one hundred slaves in the settlement, who were 
taught to read by their masters, and were baptized and 
admitted to the communion. 

In July, 1760, the revered and venerable Pierre 1760 
Stouppe rested from his labours on earth, leaving behind 
hiin a reputation unsullied by a stain, after having, for 
the long period of thirty-seven years, faithfully discharged 
the duties of his mission. He was greatly respected by 
his peoj)le, and at the time of his death the number of 
his communicants amounted to eighty. As a mark of 
respect his remains were interred under the chancel 
where he had so long officiated. 

His successor was Rev. Michael Houdin, the last pastorHoudin 
French preacher in New Eochelle. This zealous mission- 
ary was born in France, in 1705. At the beginning of 
war between France and Great Britain he quitted Canada, 
where he first settled, and went to New York, where he 
read his recantation, being previously a member of the 
Church of Eome. Mr. Waldron tells us, in his Hugue- 



242 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Service as 
Interpreter 
and Guide 



A Tribute 



nots of Westchester, that when Mr. Houdin aud his 
wife reached New York, iu June, 1744, Governor Clinton, 
suspicious of all Frenchmen, confined the sti^augers to 
their lodgings, and set two sentinels to guard them. His 
Excellency summoned them before him, when Mr. Houdin 
first informed him that the French intended to attack 
Oswego with eight hundred men, being long desirous of 
possessing that town. After filling the office of mission- 
ary for some years in Trenton, New Jersey, he was em- 
ployed, in 1759, as a guide to General Wolfe, in his expedi- 
tion against Quebec. Before he undertook this business, 
he preached to the Provincial troops destined for Canada, 
in St. Peter's Church, Westchester, from St. Matthew 
10: 28: "Fear not them which kill the body." This 
church, at that time, was the only parochial place of 
worship in a district of many miles, including Fordham, 
New Eochelle, West Farms, etc. The chaplain escaped 
the danger of the war ; but the gallant Wolfe fell, mor- 
tally wounded, at the moment of victory, on the Heights 
of Abraham, September 13, 1759. After the reduction 
of Quebec, Mr. Houdin asked permission to return to his 
mission again, but General Murray would not consent, as 
there was no other person who could be relied on for in- 
telligence concerning the French movements. 

Eeturning to New York in 1761, he was appointed to 
New Eochelle, which village, as well as Fordham, was 
considered within the spiritual jurisdiction of West- 
chester Village, then the only parish iu the county. The 
French church was named Trinity, and received, at this 
time, a charter from George the Third, dated 1762. Mr. 
Houdin served until his death in 1766. '' He was a man 
of considerable learning and research, as well as of irre- 
proachable character. He was not excelled in zeal and 
energy by any of his predecessors, aud was followed to the 
grave by the regrets of his numerous parishioners. He 
was interred under the chancel of the old French church, 
in the same grave with Bondet and Stouppe. Since the 



NEW EOCHELLE 



243 



removal of the sacred edifice, to make way for the high- 
road to Boston, the mortal remains of these faithful and 
pious labourers, iu the service of their Master, repose 
beneath the public way, and not a memorial stone marks 
the spot where they lie, or commemorates their useful- 
ness, excellence, or piety." 

While our interest in the church as a French church 
ceases largely at this point, since it lost its distinctive 
character, it is to be noted that among the later rectors 
of the parish was Eev. Louis Pintard Bayard, a descend- 
ant of two of the best known Huguenot families. 

New Rochelle still retains something of a French char- a Favourite 

. Suburb 

acter. Here and there a house with a Huguenot history xo-day 
can be found, and many of the old families are repre- 
sented by their descendants. The growth of New York, 
however, has made New Eochelle one of the favourite 
suburban sections, and it will soon take on a metropolitan 
character that will obliterate what is left of its early 
French atmosphere. 




VIEW OF THE OLD FORT, THE CHURCH, AND NEIGHBOURING HOUSES, NEW AMSTERDAM 



CHAPTEE IV 
JOHN JAY, STATESMAN AND JUEIST 



Type of 
Propriety 



The Jay 
Family 



1685 

Pierre Jay 
Rochelle 



THE most eminent of the Huguenot descendants 
in our early history as a nation was John Jay, 
who, as one of his biographers says, by reason of 
his character, "conscientious, upright, just and wise, like 
"Washington, survives in the popular imagination as an 
abstract type of propriety." He was exceptional in 
character as in statesmanship. 

John Jay was the eighth child and sixth son of Peter 
Jay and Mary, daughter of Jacobus Van Cortlandt, and 
thus united the French and Dutch blood and two dis- 
tinguished New York families, to which a third, the Liv- 
ingstons, was to be added. John was born December 12, 
1745. His father was a rich merchant. His great-grand- 
father, Pierre Jay, was a Huguenot merchant of Rochelle, 
who left France on the Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes, 
when the greater part of his property was confiscated. 
In the Life of John Jay, by his son, some account is given 
of the fortunes of this ancestor. 

"Pursuant to an order passed in January, 1685," says 
this account, "the Protestant Church at Eochelle was 
demolished. The ensuing summer a number of troops 
were marched into the city and quartered on the Protes- 
tant inhabitants, and these troops were soon followed by 
four companies of dragoons. The attempt made to con- 
vert or intimidate Mr. Pierre Jay proving fruitless, some 
of these dragoons were sent to his house to live and act 
at their discretion." There is no evidence that they of- 
fered personal violence to Mr. Jay or his family, but in 

244 




JOIIX JAY, FIRST JUSTRTi OK Tllli SL'l'REMK CUURT 



JOHN JAY, STATESMAN AND JUEIST 245 

other respects they behaved as it was intended they 
should. Such a situation was intolerable, and Mr. Jay 
lost no time in relieving his family from it. He found 
means to withdraw them, together with some articles of 
furniture, secretly from the house, and succeeded in 
putting them on board a vessel which he had engaged 
for the purpose. They fortunately set sail without being 
discovered, and were safely landed at Plymouth in Eng- 
land. He thought it advisable to remain behind, doubt- 
less with the design to save what he could from the 
wreck of his fortune. It was not long before the absence 
of his family excited attention and produced investiga- 
tion. After some time he was arrested and committed to 
prison. Being closely connected with some influential 
Eoman Catholics, he was, by their interposition and good 
offices, set at liberty. He was fortunate enough to escape 
to England in one of his own vessels that arrived from 
Spain. As soon as his departure was known, his estate 
was seized, and no part of it afterwards came to the use 
of either himself or his family. He died in England. Augustus jay 
His son Augustus, after many adventures, settled in New 
York in 1686, where he married Anna Maria Bayard, 
descendant of the Protestant professor of theology at 
Paris, who had left his country on account of his religion, 
like so many others, and made his home in Holland. 
Through his wife's relatives, the Bayards and Stuyve- 
sants (Peter Stuyvesant's wife being a Huguenot), and 
his brother-in-law, Stephen Peloquin, a merchant of 
Bristol, England, Augustus Jay soon formed a profitable 
business connection. His son became partner in his 
firm ; and in 1740 his name appears as alderman, while 
the family became allied with the manorial families of 
Van Cortlandt, Phillipse, and Livingston. 

II 
From his father, Peter Jay, who was a typical New 
York merchant of the time, a gentleman of opulence, 



246 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Peter Jay's 
Piety 



Sturdy 
Principle 



Marriage 1774 



character and reputation, John inlierited many marked 
traits. Peter was a very pious man. In letters to his 
son James in England he writes : ' ' Let us endeavour to 
adhere to the worship of God, observing His holy ordi- 
nances as the rule of our lives, let us disregard the 
wicked insinuations of libertines, who not only deride 
our most holy religion and the professors of it, but also 
endeaA^our to gain proselytes to their detestable notions, 
and so rob the Almighty of the honour and adoration 
that is due to Him from His creatures." And again, 
''Don't forget to bring me Bishop Patrick's Devout 
Christian, a book you doubtless will remember, as it con- 
tains the family prayers we always use." 

Peter Jay was a colonist and not a Royalist, and his 
son came naturally by his Whig notions. " I have noth- 
ing to ask or fear from any man, and will not be com- 
pelled into measures." That was the man, and that was 
his son John. Firmness of character that in excess would 
have been obstinacy was a notable trait in them. John 
was brought up in Rye, in the old Jay house, a long low 
building only one room deep but eighty feet long, that 
grew as the family required. He was taught by his 
mother the rudiments of English and the Latin grammar. 
"Johnny is of a very grave disposition and takes to 
learning exceedingly well," wrote his father when the 
lad was seven. He was sent to grammar school at eight, 
a school kept by Rev. Peter Stouppe, pastor of the 
French Huguenot Church, then lately joined to the Epis- 
copal communion at New Rochelle. French was then 
spoken generally at the school. 

In 1760 he entered King's College (Colimibia Univer- 
sity of to-day), when a little over fourteen. After grad- 
uation in 1764, he studied law, in 1768 receiving admis- 
sion to the bar. Family and ability combined to gain 
him a large practice. In 1774 he was married to Sarah 
Livingston, whose father later became governor of New 
Jersey. 



JOHN JAY, STATESMAN AND JURIST 247 



Active Patriot 



The Revolution gave him opportunity to serve his 
country in most conspicuous manner, and opportunity 
found him ready and eager. He took an active part in 
the measures that led to independence. In the year of his 
marriage he was one of the committee of fifty appointed 
by the citizens of New York to correspond with other 
colonial committees concerning the Boston Port Bill. His 
talents were recognized and his advancement was rapid. 
In September, 1774, he was elected a delegate to the Con- 
tinental Congress in Philadelphia, and took a leading 
position in that body, although one of the youngest mem- 
bers. It is sufficient proof of his position that he was 
charged with drawing up the Address to the People of 
Great Britain, and the utmost confidence was placed in 
his judgment. 

He was a member also of the second Congress, in 1775, 
and wrote the addresses to the people of Canada and Ire- 
land. He rendered most useful service on the secret 
committQe which corresponded with the friends of Amer- 
ica in Europe. His pen was able and eloquent, and none 
could more forcibly present the cause of the colonies. 
He was a member of the committee that drew up the 
Declaration of Independence, and doubtless had full 
share in that document, although he was not among its 
signers, owing to the fact that it was deemed essential to 
the cause of liberty that he take the seat in the provincial 
Congress of New York, to which he was elected in April, 
1776. In that body he was a leader, and it was his hand constitution 
which drafted the constitution adopted by the State. 



Member of 
Congress 1775 



Maker 



III 

It should not be forgotten that it was the descendant of 
a French Huguenot refugee who, as chairman of the com- 
mittee of the New York Congress to which the Declara- 
tion of Independence had been referred, wrote and re- 
ported this resolution, which was unanimously adopted : 

"That the reasons assigned by the Continental Con- 



Resolution for 
Independence 



248 



THE FEENCH BLOOD I^ AMERICA 



Chief Justice 



President of 
Congress 



Spain 1780 



Negotiating 
Peace 1781 



gress for declaring the United Colonies free and independ- 
ent States are cogent and conclusive ; and that while we 
lament the cruel necessity which has rendered that 
measure unavoidable, we approve the same, and while at 
the risk of our lives and fortunes, join with the other 
colonies in supporting it." 

Then the New York delegates at Philadelphia were 
authorized to sign the Declaration. Jay served as one 
of the Council of Safety in New York, and later accepted 
provisional appointment as Chief Justice of the State. 
This appointment was confirmed under the constitution, 
when adopted, but he was prohibited from holding any 
other office except that of Congressional delegate "on 
special occasion." Events now moved rapidly and the 
special occasion soon came in the secession of Vermont 
from New Hampshire and New York. In December, 
1778, Jay was sent to Congress, and elected its president. 
He was the author of the letter, written in 1779 in the 
name of the Congress, to the people of the States on the 
subject of currency and finance. Then came a stress in 
foreign affairs, and it was necessary to send abroad the 
ablest men to be found. Jay was accordingly despatched 
as plenipotentiary to Spain, arriving there in January, 
1780. He resigned his chief justiceship and the presi- 
dency of Congress to undertake a mission that proved 
unsatisfactory, though through no fault of his ,• he suc- 
ceeded in gaining material help from Spain. 

In 1781 he was commissioned to act with Franklin, 
Adams, Jefferson and Laurens in negotiating peace with 
Great Britain. Thus two of the five members of that 
most important diplomatic body were Huguenot descend- 
ants. Jay arrived in Paris from Spain in June, 1782, 
the provisional articles were signed November 30, 1782, 
and the formal treaty on September 3, 1783. During 
this period Jay was the one who '' evinced a jealous sus- 
picion of the disinterestedness of France and a punctil- 
ious attention to the dignity of his country " — perhaps 



JOHN JAY, STATESMAN AND JUEIST 249 

remembering the treatment which France had given to 
his forebears. When the peace treaty had been signed, 
Jay resigned all his commissions and came back to New 
York in 1784 as a private citizen, after ten years of most 
arduous and brilliant service for his country — a service 
that had contributed as much as that of any other man to 
the shaping of the policies and course of the young Ee- 

public. 

IV 

But he could not remain in private life ; he was too 
valuable to the state. He was presented with the freedom offices and 
of the city, and at once elected delegate to Congress. 
Before he reached America, indeed, that body had chosen 
him to be foreign secretary, and he held that position 
until the beginning of the Federal Government in 1789. 
He was foremost in the organization of that government, 
and joined Hamilton and Madison in issuing the Feder- 
alist. He published an address to the people of New 
York, in vindication of the Constitution, and worked 
zealously with Hamilton for its adoption by New York. 
From his legal acquirements and judicial temperament it First chief 
was natural and fitting that under this new government sup^reme 
he was appointed, September 26, 1789, the first Chief ^°"" 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The 
two men who through their ability and influence swung 
New York into line for the Federal Constitution were of 
French blood. 

None of the great statesmen who founded the Eepublic 
escaped detraction at some period, and Jay was in the jay-s Treaty 
company of Washington and others in this respect. It 
was necessary to make a commercial treaty with Great 
Britain, if war was to be averted, and Chief Justice Jay 
was appointed envoy to England for that purpose in 1794. 
He signed a treaty with Lord Grenville November 19th, 
after four months spent in negotiations, and landed in 
New York again in May, 1795. "Jay's Treaty" was 
fiercely attacked, particularly because of the article de- 



250 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Governor of 

New York 



Death in 1829 



Christian 
Philan- 
thropist 



■Webster's 
Eulogy 



daring that a free ship did not make free cargo. In spite 
of the fact that by the treaty provisions the eastern 
boundary of Maine was determined, that American citizens 
recovered over ten millions for illegal captures by British 
cruisers, and that the western posts held by British gar- 
risons were surrendered. Jay was accused of having be- 
trayed his country, and his effigy was burned together 
with copies of the treaty. Washington, however, ratified 
the treaty, with the approval of the Senate, and its ben- 
eficial effects were subsequently recognized. 

Two days before he arrived in New York from this 
foreign mission. Jay had been elected Governor of New 
York ; and in spite of the violent denunciation of his 
treaty was re-elected, serving six years. At the close of 
his second term, in 1801, he resolutely withdrew from 
public life, living on the ancestral estate at Bedford, 
Westchester County, for a quarter century. He died 
May 17, 1829. He declined a second appointment by 
President Adams as Chief Justice of the United States 
Supreme Court, and kept himself free from politics. 

The characteristics of his ancestry now appeared prom- 
inently. He was devoted to religious and philanthropic 
movements, and his public utterances in his later years 
were chiefly as president of the American Bible Society. 
He was a member of the Episcopal chiu-ch, in which most 
of the Huguenot churches in this country became merged, 
and maintained the highest character for moral purity, 
philanthropy, patriotism, and unyielding integrity. He 
was long in advance of the latter-day abolitionists. As 
early as 1785 he was president of a New York society for 
the emancipation of the slaves, and it was largely due to 
his efforts that slavery was abolished in New York in 
1799. As a private citizen his influence was scarcely less 
marked than when he was in public life. In his eighty- 
fourth year closed a life whose purity and integrity are 
smnmed up in a sentence by Daniel Webster that forms a 
fitting epitaph ; ''When the spotless ermine of the judi- 



JOHN JAY, STATESMAN AND JURIST 251 

cial robe fell on John Jay, it touched nothing less spot- 
less than itself." America owes a lasting debt of grati- 
tude to this great jurist and statesman, one of the greatest 
gifts France made to this country through the persecution 
of her Protestant citizens. 
The following " Reflection of John Jay " concerning his J^y on his 

° ^ o Ancestry 

ancestry is given in his biography : 

After what has been said, you will observe with pleasure and grati- 
tude how kindly and how amply Providence was pleased to provide 
for the welfare of our ancestor, Augustus. Nor was his case a soli- 
tary or singular instance. The beneficent care of heaven appears to 
have been evidently and remarkably extended to all those persecuted 
exiles. Strange as it may seem, I have never heard of one of them 
who asked or received alms ; nor have I any reason to suspect, much 
less to believe, that any of them came to this country in a destititte 
situation. The number of refugees who settled here was considerable. 
They did not disperse and settle in different parts of the country, but 
formed three societies or congregations, one in the city of New York, 
another at Paltz, and a third at a town which they purchased and 
called New Rochelle. At New Rochelle they built two churches, and 
lived in great tranquillity. None of them became rich, but they lived 
comfortably. 




UBERTY HALL, BIRTHPLACE OF MRS JAV,. 



CHAPTER V 

ALEXAI^DER HAMILTON^, STATESMAK^ AND 
FINANCIER 






A Huguenot /^~^ IDE by side with John Jay among the great figures 
of the Revolutionary period stands Alexander 
Hamilton, who had in his veins Huguenot blood, 
on his mother's side. No more brilliant genius has our 
country known. Many have ranked him next to Wash- 
ington. Commonly he is placed in the eminent group 
that includes Franklin, Jay and Adams. He was second 
to none in the character and importance of his services to 
his country. To his commanding abilities as a financier 
the new Republic owed its financial salvation, and for his 
achievements in this difficult line he received as high 
j)raise as language could bestow. It was Daniel Webster 
who said of him : '' He touched the dead corpse of pub- 
lic credit, and it sprang upon its feet." And this was no 
hyperbole. 
His career was romantic and remarkable. He was born 

Birthplace Jauuary 11, 1757, on the island of Nevis, in the Westln- 

1757 .' ; ' 7 

dies, where his father, an English officer of Scotch blood, 
met and took for wife the descendant of a French refugee, 
one of the considerable number that found an asylum in 
the West Indies. The boy was destined to know little of 
home life. In 1772, when he was fifteen, a hurricane 
swept over the island. A newspaper account of the 
disaster was so graphic in description that its unknown 
author was sought for, and found to be the lad Hamilton. 
So impressed was the governor of Nevis with the boy's 
talents that he was sent to the American colonies, where 
he could find wider field. He was placed in a grammar 

252 



ALEXANDEE HAMILTON 



253 



The Tea 
Party 



school at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and in less than a Racing 
year was declared ready for college. Princeton would couegl 
not allow him to advance as rapidly as he was able, re- 
gardless of the established four years, so he applied for 
this privilege at King's College in New York, and was ac- 
cepted. He went through college at an amazing pace, 
taking such extra studies as he desired. 

Meanwhile the storm of the Eevolution was approach- 
iug. As a British subject the young man's sympathies 
were at first with England. But in 1774, when he was 
seventeen, he visited Boston, where the ' ' tea party ' ' and 
its consequences were the absorbing topic. This led him 
to study with the thoroughness that marked him the 
whole subject of the relations of the colonies to the 
mother country and the questions at issue. As a result 
he returned to New York an American. A mass meeting 
of patriots was held in July of that same year, and 
Hamilton heard the speeches. Suddenly, uninvited and 
unannounced, he took the platform and began to speak. 
At first surprise kept the people silent, as this youthful 
and slender student went on. Soon they forgot his age, 
and listened to one who knew his subject and was en- 
lightening as well as enchaining them. That incident, 
which reminds us of Wendell Phillips' first anti-slavery 
speech, introduced Alexander Hamilton to the American 
public. From that day Hamilton used his voice and pen 
with telling effect. A recent writer says : 



Maiden 
Speech 



During the winter of 1774-5, a coterie of Tory writers, mostly 
clergymen and educators, issued a series of essays presenting the 
British side so strongly as to threaten great harm to the popular cause, 
unless ably answered. These essays were soon met by anonymous 
replies so exhaustive and convincing as to excite the admiration of the 
Tories themselves. On every hand eager search was made to discover 
this new "Junius." The reputation of John Jay and of Governor 
Livingston was augmented in no small degree by the supposition that 
they were the authors of the patriotic answers. Great was the sur- 
prise at the discovery, after some weeks, that the real author was the 



Tory 

Essayists 

Answered 



254 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



youthful student from the island of Nevis. Oddly enough, it turned 
out that one of the Tories with whom the lad had been conducting hia 
newspaper controversy was Dr. Cooper, president of King's College. 



A Soldier 



Aide-de- 
Camp to 
Washington 



The Little 
Lion 



But now the time for action came, and Hamilton, who 
had leaped from boyhood into manhood, devoted himself 
to the study of war. So apt a scholar was he that when 
the New York Convention ordered the raising of an ar- 
tillery company, he was made its captain. His company 
was brought to a high state of discipline so rapidly that 
it attracted the attention of General Greene, who brought 
the young officer to the attention of Washington. 

Nothing could hold this precocious genius back. He 
was with the Continental Army on Long Island and in 
New Jersey. At Princeton and Trenton he shared in the 
laurels. He constiucted some earthworks with such un- 
usual skill that they were noticed by Washington, who 
traced them to their author. So drawn was the great 
commander to the youth that he appointed him aide-de- 
camp to himself with rank of lieutenant-colonel, and 
made him secretary and confidential adviser. This 
when he was twenty, in 1777. Washington was forty- 
five, and members of his staff were old enough to be 
Hamilton's father, yet he won them all by his modesty 
and genuineness and ability. For four years he served 
on Washington's staff, and then their official relationship 
came to an end through a misunderstanding. Hamilton, 
however, remained with the army, preferring life on the 
line. At Yorktown, commanding a corps under Lafay- 
ette, he led an assault upon a British redoubt with 
such gallantry, taking the redoubt at the point of the 
bayonet, that Lafayette was high in his praise, while 
Washington said, "Few cases have exhibited greater 
proof of intrepidity, coolness and firmness than were 
shown on this occasion." By his courage Hamilton won 
the name of ''the Little Lion." He had the military 
instinct, and would have made a great general, had his 



ALEXANDEE HAMILTON 255 

life so developed ; but he was destined for sometliiug 
higher. 

When the end of the war was in sight, Hamilton re- 
signed his commission, took up the study of law at 
Albany, and in four mouths was admitted to the bar. 
In the fall of 1782 he was elected to the Continental 
Congress, where he devoted his genius to the financial 
and political problems that threatened the destruction 
of the new Confederation. He adopted the national or 
republican principle, as against the strictly democratic 
idea. He believed that the best people must rule. He ^j,^^*'°"^' 
felt that unless a stronger central government was formed 
the people must lose what they had gained by the long 
war. To create such a govermneut became his passion. 
He did more than any other man to secure the conven- 
tion that wrought out the Constitution of the United 
States, and in that convention he was a leading spirit creating the 
and power. Then he threw himself into the struggle to 
secure the adoption of the constitution by the States. 
His ends were gained, and two Huguenot descendants — 
Jay and himself — had much to do with the success 
achieved, which meant stability for the new Eepublic, if 
not existence itself. 

Washington as president made Hamilton the first 
secretary of the treasury, and in this office his genius 
blossomed. He was secretary of a treasury that had no secretary of 
treasure in it. The government was not only moneyless * ^ reasury 
but in debt. Public credit had to be created. And 
Hamilton created it. He caused the adoption of the 
dollar first used by the United States in 1793. He in- 
duced Congress to assume the whole of the war indebted- 
ness and pledge the resources of the United States for its 
payment. In the process, to secure the necessary votes, 
he made the famous bargain with Jefferson whereby the 
national capital was located on the Potomac, a wise 
choice. By financial measures which evoked the admira- 
tion of foreign statesmen, he bound the States into a 



256 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

union of such cohesive force that a half centuiy later the 
fibres of civil war, burning with increasing fury for four 
years, could not melt it. 

From Public Broad and deep he laid the foundation principles. 

Pra^k e ^"^ And then, having done his duty at personal sacrifice, he 
left public life to practice his profession and make a 
living for his family. New York never had a more 
brilliant lawyer. Chancellor Kent said, ' ' Hamilton rose 
to the loftiest heights of professional eminence. He was 
a very great favourite with the merchants of New York, 
and was employed in every important and every com- 
mercial case." He was marked by profound penetration, 
power of analysis, comprehensive grasp, strength of un- 
dertaking, firmness, frankness, and integrity. It was 
said he could win any case he undertook, right or wrong ; 
but he took only the case he considered right. Socially 
he was as popular as professionally. He was fascinating 
in his personality, was generous, polished, a brilliant 
conversationalist. In the prime of life, only forty-four, 
a great career seemed to lie before him, with no height 
that he might not reach. 

IheEnd^^"'^ Thcu camc the tragic end. Aaron Burr, longtime a 
political opponent, made cause of offense, and challenged 
Hamilton to a duel. Burr thirsted for revenge, Hamil- 
ton felt no ill-will, tried to avoid the duel, but at length 
felt c-ompelled to accept the challenge, which resulted in 
his death. It was nothing less than cold-blooded murder,- 
and Biu-r the assassin. It is well said that not until Lin- 
coln fell was the country again so shocked and stricken 
with horror. Burr, like Booth, fled, pursued by the 
anathemas of his countrymen. He had robbed the coun- 
try of one of its greatest men, one who had rendered in- 
valuable service at a critical time, and who deserves the 
honour and enduring remembrance of Americans. On 
his monument in Boston are carved these words, "Alex- 
ander Hamilton, Orator, Writer, Soldier, Jurist, Finan- 
cier." Senator Henry Cabot Lodge says of him, "In 



ALEXANDEE HAMILTON 



257 



fouudiug a government he founded a nation. His versa- 
tility was extraordinary. He was a great orator and 
lawyer, and he was also the ablest political and constitu- 
tional writer of his day, a good soldier, and possessed of 
a wonderful capacity for organization and practical ad- 
ministration. He was a master in every field he entered 
and never failed." Such was the man who inherited his 
keen, intellectual powers from his Scotch father, and his 
fascinating vivacity and ardent temperament from his 
Huguenot mother. 




Sg^^gJ'!r~-~ -■ ^-^-^^i!^ i^^=sp:rir~*. 



The Grange, as it apijeaicd m ilaiuiltou & time From an old print 



CHAPTER VI 
SOME PEOMINENT NAMES 



1686 



In Old New 
York 



A Fine 
Mansion 






The De Lancey Family 
TIENNE DE LANCEY, born in Caen in Octobei 
of the year 1663, came to New York in 1686, ar- 
' riving on the seventh day of June. He had brought 
with him some of his family jewels and these he disposed 
of for the sum of £300. With this money (which in those 
days of scarce currency represented a far greater degree 
of value than would fifteen hundi^ed dollars to-day) he set 
himself up as a merchant. He proved to be a shrewd and 
bold trader, and so well did his business ventures prosper 
that in the year 1700 he was enabled to marry the aristo- 
cratic Anne van Cortland. For her he built a brick man- 
sion on Broadway between the present Thames and Cedar 
Streets. It was one of the fine houses of the city, and 
from its windows a striking panorama of life and death 
could be seen ; for on the one hand lay the Mall where 
New York's fashionable set was wont to walk of a sunny 
afternoon, and on the other lay Trinity churchyard where 
fashionable folk rested. There was a broad veranda at 
the rear of the house which commanded a view of the 
North Eiver, and there were stately gardens which sloped 
gently down to the edge of the water. Half a century 
later the fine old residence was turned into a tavern under 
the sign of the Province Arms, and for nearly fifty years it 
flourished as the fashionable hostelry of the town, and 
was the scene of many famous social and patriotic occa- 
sions. The Boreel building of to-day marks the site of 
;fitienne De Lancey' s once elegant mansion. 

258 



SOME PROMINENT NAMES 259 

Before moving into their new home the De Lanceys 
lived for a time in the house which l^tienne had first built 
for himself at the southeast corner of Broad and Pearl 
Streets. Afterwards it was used for a time as a store, 
and then, like the other De Lancey residence, it was con- 
verted into a tavern. Samuel Fraunces was the first inn- Fraunces* 

• i • 1 Tavern 

keeper, and Fraunces' Tavern it has ever since been 
called. Here it was, in the long room which had once 
been Mrs. De Lancey' s drawing-room, that George Wash- 
ington said farewell to the officers of his army on the 
4th of December, 1783. Many other hallowed memo- 
ries cluster about the old building, as well befits the oldest 
landmark in the city of New York. It is pleasing to 
know that the De Lancey homestead has recently (1904) 
passed into the keeping of a patriotic society and will be 
preserved to future generations : nor is it without signifi- 
cance, as showing the important part played by Huguenot 
blood in the founding of the city, to note that the oldest 
and most historic edifice in the metropolis to-day was 
once the home of a French refugee. 

But fitienne De Lancey did not confine his energies to 
laying up a fortune and building fine residences. He Alderman 
took a keen interest in all the affairs of the city and of spirited 
the province. For several years he was a member of the 
board of aldermen, and for a long period, covering twenty- 
four years, he represented the city in the provincial as- 
sembly. It was through his generosity that the first town 
clock was set up in the city ; and the first fire-engine to 
be imported into America was brought over by De Lancey 
and presented to the people of New York. In these, and 
in a hundred other ways did he show himself a public- 
spirited citizen ; and as, when he came to die in 1741, 
Done had amassed a greater fortune than he, so none had Death in 1741 
won a better title to the love and respect of his fellow- 
townsmen. 

James, the eldest son of ifetienue De Lancey, was born james 
in New York on the 27th of November, 1703. As a boy ^^^°^^y 



260 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



City Charter 



Chief Justice 



Practically 
Governor 



he gave evidence of powers far above the ordinary, and 
everything was done for him which might foster the de- 
velopment of his talents. England was then the Mecca 
of the American educational world, and to England ac- 
cordingly young De Lancey was sent by his devoted 
father. After graduating at the University of Cambridge 
he completed his training by a course of legal study at 
the Inner Temj^le, Loudon, and returned to New York in 
1725. He soon became prominent in the public life of 
the province, and his legal talents received an early 
recognition. In 1729 he was elected to the council. The 
following year he was appointed as the head of a com- 
mission to frame a charter for the city of New York. 
The "Montgomery Charter," as this instrument was 
known, was mainly the result of De Lancey's labours ; 
and for this distinguished service he was rewarded by 
being presented with the freedom of the city, an honour 
which he was the first person to receive. In 1731 he was 
appointed to the highest tribunal in the province as sec- 
ond judge of the Supreme Court, and two years later was 
made Chief Justice, a position which he retained with 
honour until the close of his life. During the next 
twenty j^ears he was occupied with his judicial duties, 
with the care of the immense estate left to him by his 
father, and with many important public commissions. 

During these years his influence and reputation grew 
among the citizens of New York and spread to England, 
so that in 1753 he was appointed by the Crown Lieuten- 
ant-Governor of the province. For several years, in the 
absence of an English governor, he was the real ruler of 
New York. Shortly after taking his oath of ofSice he 
convened and presided over the first congress ever held 
in America, which met at Albany on the 19th of June, 
1754. Delegates from all the colonies were present to 
take measures for the common defense and to devise 
means of conciliating the Indians. The congress is chiefiy 
remembered, however, from the fact that Benjamin 



SOME PEOMINENT NAMES 261 

Franklin took occasion to propose a union of all the 
colonies by act of Parliament, a proposal which it is 
hardly necessary to state was not adopted. In October 
of the same year, Governor De Lancey granted a charter 
to King's College (now Columbia University). He died 
on the 30th of July, 1760. As a jurist he was possessed 
of great learning ; the wise and enlightened use of his 
vast wealth earned for him a position of almost bound- 
less influence and power ; and he will always be remem- 
bered as one of the best and ablest provincial rulers of 
New York. 

James, eldest son of Governor De Lancey, was born in james 
New York in 1732. He was educated at Eton and Cam- 
bridge, and returned home at the beginning of the French 
War, He immediately turned soldier and went through soidier 
the Niagara campaign of 1755. He was in command of 
the detachment which prevented the relief of Fort Niagara, 
and it was through his efforts that that strong position 
was finally taken. In the expedition against Ticonderoga 
in 1758 he acted as aide-de-camp to General Abercrombie. 
In 1760, when he succeeded to his father's estate he was Riches_^Man 
the richest man in America, and for several years he 
devoted his time to the care of his property. But the 
active Huguenot blood which flowed in his veins would 
not permit him to live the life of a merely selfish rich 
man, and in the year 1768 he became a member of the 
assembly and engaged actively in public affairs. He 
soon became recognized as the leader of the conservative 
party in the province, bending all his energies towards a 
peaceful solution of the differences between the colonies 
and the mother country. Perhaps his most notable 
service was in introducing and putting through a resolu- 
tion which ordered a petition sent to the king, a memorial 
to the lords and a remonstrance to the commons, demand- 
ing redress for the grievances of the colonists. He him- 
self drafted the remonstrance to the commons, producing 
an able document which was presented to parliament by 



of his Day 



262 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

Edmund Burke, but which met with the contemptuous 
indiiference of that body. With a view to impressing 
the needs of pacifying the colonies upon the English gov- 
ernment, he went to London in 1775, but was unsuccessful 
in his efforts. While engaged in this business actual 
hostilities broke out in America. De Lancey remained 
faithful to the king and saw the confiscation of his vast 
estates. In our day, so far removed from the bitterness 
of the revolutionary struggle, we may frankly admire the 
loyalty of a man who preferred to lose a great fortune 
rather than prove a rebel to that power which had be- 
friended so many of his persecuted Huguenot brethren. 
While we must disagree with his view of the situation, 
we must, nevertheless, give him all honour for his self- 
sacrifice and devotion to his principles. 
William William Heathcote De Lancey, nephew of James, was 

De Lancey ^ 7 x ; 

Bishop born in Mamaroneck, N. Y., in 1797. He graduated 

from Yale in 1817, went to Philadelphia and took orders 
in the Episcopal Church. In 1827 he was persuaded to 
become provost of the University of Pennsylvania, which 
at that time had become greatly run down. There were 
twenty-one students in the institution when De Lancey 
accepted the provostship, but when he came to leave it 
in 1836 to become rector of St. Peter's Church, Phila- 
delphia, he had raised the number to one hundred and 
twenty-five. After serving as rector of St. Peter's for 
three years, De Lancey was made bishop of Western New 
York on the creation of that diocese in 1839. He was an 
eloquent speaker and a man of excellent judgment and 
tact, and living at a time when the Episcopal Church in 
America was in a formative condition he was able to 
exercise a generous influence in shaping its policy. He 
was the first, for example, to propose the "provincial 
system" in the American Church, and it was Bishop De 
Lancey who laid out the lines along which the General 
Theological Seminary should work. The two most last- 
ing monuments of his energy and devotion are Hobart 



SOME PEOMINENT NAMES 263 

College and the training school at Geneva, N. Y. In 
the grounds of the latter there is a fine chapel which was 
erected in his honour shortly after his death in 1865. 

Peter De Lancey, second son of Etienne, was born in other son» 
New York in 1705. He was a man of great wealth and 
influence, and from 1750 to 1768 he was a member of the 
provincial assembly. His daughter Alice married Ralph 
Izard, the South Carolina Senator, and his daughter 
Susan married Colonel Thomas Barclay. Of his three 
sons two became loyalists ; the youngest, James, being a 
thorn in the side of Westchester County patriots. At the 
head of his troop of light horse he made frequent raids 
through the countryside, and his alertness and courage 
made his name one to couj ure with throughout the length 
and breadth of the '^ neutral grounds." ^^tienne's third 
son, Oliver, was an able soldier. He gained his first ex- 
periences during the French and Indian War, taking 
part in the Niagara campaign and commanding the New 
York troops at the capture of Ticonderoga. During the 
Revolution he raised three regiments of loyalists at his 
own expense, known as "De Lancey's Battalions," and 
was given command of Long Island. 

Oliver's two sons both joined the British service. 
Stephen served through the Revolution as a colonel in 
the English army, and after the war was made governor 
of Tobago, a small island of the West Indies ; while 
Oliver had attained the rank of general when he died in 
1822. 

II 

The De Forest Family 

The members of the large and well-known De Forest jesse 
family of America trace their descent to the Jesse de 1622 °^^^ 
Forest who in 1622 propounded his scheme of colonization 
to the Virginia Company. Jesse de Forest came from an 
old family of Avesues, but was forced for conscience' sake 
to take refuge in Holland. His name first appears on 



264 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Planning a 
Colony 



Henry and 
Isaac 
DeForest 1636 



the records of Leyden in 1615, and three years later we 
hear of him as a resident of the Hague. His fortunes 
were at a low ebb at this time and the records show that 
he was in the direst poverty, pledging his household 
goods and the tools with which he prosecuted his trade as 
dyer. He was not alone in his poverty, however, for 
there were many scions of noble French houses begging 
for their daily bread in the streets of Amsterdam and 
other Dutch cities. Of this period of distress Mr. J. W. 
De Forest writes as follows : ' ' Perhaps there is no more 
sublime spectacle in history than that of a man who 
knows not where to lay his head, stepping forward to 
guide and save his fellow creatures, with a perfect confi- 
dence that he can do it. The thought of our exiled an- 
cestor, with his ten young children and his haunting debt 
of fifty florins, planning and petitioning and recruiting 
for a Protestant colony in America, is a remembrance 
which ought to fill his descendants with pride, and to 
stimulate them to courage of soul and energy of deed." 

Jesse de Forest did not himself affect a settlement in 
North America, but joined a band of colonists who were 
bound for the coast of Guiana, the ''Wild Coast," as the 
Dutch called it. It was left to his sons Henry and Isaac 
to carry the family fortunes into New Amsterdam. These 
brothers sailed from Amsterdam in the tiny ship Renssel- 
aenoicli in October, 1636, with the intention of setting up 
as tobacco planters. " The upper portion of New York 
island was then a mere wilderness of virgin forest and 
natiu-al clearing, inhabitated by bears, catamounts, 
painted Wickasqueeks and other savage creatures, and 
giving small promise of the vast civilized population 
which now loads the soil of Harlem." 

To the brothers de Forest belongs the distinction of 
being the first white settlers in this wild region. To live 
there meant exposure to many hardships and dangers, 
but land was abundant and cheap and the young men 
(Henry, the married brother, was thirty and Isaac was 



SOME PROMINENT NAMES 265 

only twenty years of age) were courageou.s. ' ' From the 
rough, forest-clad hills," writes Mr. J. H. Innes, First in 
' ' seamed with deep ravines, a part of which now occupy ^'^ ^™ 
the north end of the Central Park, these two brothers, as 
they explored the island of the Mannahatoes, soon after 
their arrival, must have seen, as they looked to the north- 
ward, towards the wide salt-water estuary which we now 
know as Harlem Eiver, a level expanse of some seven or 
eight hundred acres in area, broken only by one or two 
isolated rocky eminences crowned with trees. Through 
the midst of this ran a small fresh -water stream, and 
there is little doubt that portions of the plain had been 
long cleared and cultivated by the Indians." Here Di- 
rector van Twiller granted two hundi^ed acres of meadow 
land to Henry, with the customary formalities of the 
times: "The said de Forest and his successors shall 
acknowledge their High Mightinesses, the Directors of the 
West India Company, as their sovereign Lords and 
Patroons, and at the end of ten years after the actual set- 
tlement shall render the just tenth part of the product 
wherewith God may bless the soil, and from this time 
forth shall annually deliver on account of the dwelling 
and house-lot, a pair of capons to the Director for the 
holidays." Shortly afterwards the brothers erected the 
first house on upper Manhattan ; a solidly built dwelling 
forty -two feet long and eighteen feet wide, protected by a 
heavy palisade. It is interesting to note that the site of 
this house was not far from the present Harlem Lake in 
Central Park. 

The rewards of his arduous labours, however, were not 
destined for Henry de Forest. Hardly had the spring 
plowing been completed in the year 1637 when he died of 
some cause unknown. The Harlem estate passed into the 
hands of his widow, only a small portion of the movable 
property going to Isaac ; a half interest in a boat, half of 
a bull calf and the half of two kids are mentioned as be- 
longing to him. It became necessary for Isaac, therefore, 



266 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

to establish a plantation for himself ; and he procured a 
grant of one hundred acres which extended in a narrow 
strip from ''about the present Fifth Avenue and One 
Hundred and Twelfth Street to the river shore in the 
neighbourhood of First Avenue and One Hundred and 
Twenty-sixth Street," including not a little of what is at 
present Mt. Morris Park. 

The loneliness of bachelor life must have weighed 
heavily on Isaac, and in the records of the Dutch Re- 
formed Church for June 9, 1641, appears the following 
note : '' Isaac de Forest of Leyden, bachelor, was mar- 
ried to Sarah du Trieux of New Amsterdam, spinster." 
At the time of his marriage he already had a dwelling 
and a tobacco house on his plantation. Two years later 
he leased the farm on shares and moved into the village of 
New Amsterdam, where he oj^ened a tobacco warehouse 
in the Old Church, a deserted building which stood on 
the Strand, now Pearl Street. From dealing in tobacco 
Isaac branched out into the brewing line, and by 1653 he 

Of the Nine ^as rcctoned as a thoroughly successful brewer. In many 
ways did he identify himself with the life of the grow- 
ing town : in 1652 he was one of the Nine Men (the advis- 
ory committee of the town) ; during the following year 
he was inspector of tobacco ; in 1656 he was appointed 
"Master of the Weight House" ; was made a great 
burgher two years later ; and served in the common 
council for several years. 

The When Isaac de Forest died in 1674 he was survived by 

a widow and seven children ; Susannah, Johannes, Philip, 
Isaac, Hendricus, Maria, and David. Susannah married 
Peter de Riemer ; Maria married Alderman Isaac de 
Riemer ; Johannes died without issue. Of the remaining 
children, Philip, husband of Tryntie Kip, founded the 
Albany branch of the family ; Isaac remained in New 
York, where many of his descendants are living to-day ; 
Hendrick settled on Long Island, and left a goodly prog- 
eny ; while David removed to Stratford, Conn. , where he 



SOME PEOMINENT NAMES 267 

married Martha Blagge. From Connecticut, the little 
State which has sent so many colonists out into the un- 
settled portions of the country, the De Forests spread un- 
til to-day they are to be found in nearly every section of 
the United States. 

Ill 

General Richard Montgomery 

This noble martyr to liberty, who fell at Quebec on the 
last day of 1775, was descended from the Huguenots 
through that Comte de Montgomerie who mortally 
wounded Henry II of France, July 10, 1559, in a tourna- a Revolution, 
ment in honour of the marriage of his daughter. Though and Martyr 
the King forgave the Count, the queen mother, Catherine 
de Medicis, did not, but pursued the brave Huguenot with 
implacable vengeance till she brought him to the scaffold. 
May 27, 1576. His family fled to Ireland and won dis- 
tinction. Eichard Montgomery was third son of an Irish 
baronet, and was born December 2, 1738, at his father's 
country seat in the north of Ireland. Liberally educated, 
young Montgomery entered the British army and served 
under General Wolfe in the war between England and 
France for supremacy in Canada. Thus he gained his 
experience for the Revolutionary days, when he espoused 
the cause of the American colonies, and was elected a 
brigadier-general by the Continental Congress. He was 
then living on his farm at Rhinebeck, having married 
into the Livingston family. The distinction conferred Leaving the 
upon him without his solicitation was accepted with 
characteristic modesty and a patriotic sense of duty. 
Writing to a friend he says : ' ' The Congress having 
done me the honour of electing me a brigadier-general in 
their service, is an event which must put an end for a 
while, perhaps forever, to the quiet scheme of life I had 
prescribed for myself: for, though entirely unexpected 
and undesired by me, the will of an oppresvsed people, 
compelled to choose between liberty and slavery, must be 



Farm for War 



268 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

obeyed." From that hour he was devoted to his adopted 
country. He was sent to capture Montreal, which he did 
after a most brilliant campaign. When the news of his 
signal success reached Congress, that body passed a vote 
of thanks and promoted him to be a major-general ; but his 
untimely death prevented his receiving this reward of 
merit. Quebec was his next objective, for as he wrote to 
A Daring As- Cougrcss : "Till Qucbcc is taken, Canada is uncon- 
Quebec qucrcd. " It IS a romantic but tragic story, how he led his 

band of three hundred patriots over frozen ground and 
drifting snows ; made juncture with Arnold, who had com- 
pleted a wonderful march with a half-starved and frozen 
army through the wilderness of northern Maine ; only to 
fall into a trap at last, and perish while at the head of his 
hapless command, leading an assault on the strongly 
fortified city. His last words were: "Men of New 
York, you will not fear to follow where your general 
leads ! March on, brave boys ! Quebec is ours ! '' But 
they marched into the jaws of swift death. Through the 
courtesy of General Carleton, British commander, Mont- 
gomery's body was privately interred, January 4, 1776, 
near where he fell. By friend and foe alike his bravery 
and ability were recognized and admired. His death 
made a profound impression, both in Europe and 
America, for the excellency of his character had won him 
affection, as his great abilities had gained public esteem. 
The Continental Congress caused to be executed a monu- 
ment of white marble, with a classical inscription written 
by Franklin, which has since 1789 adorned the front of 
The St. Paul's Church in New York. It was fitting that this 

soi'di^r^""* monument should be executed by a Frenchman, Caffteres, 
sculptor to Louis XVI. He was eulogized even in the 
British Parliament by Chatham and Burke. Forty-three 
years after his death his remains were removed from 
Quebec, by an "act of Honour " of the legislature of New 
York, and buried with brilliant military ceremonies near 
the cenotaph erected by Congress to his memory. Of 



SOME PROMINENT NAMES 269 

Wasliiugtou' s thirteen generals, elected by Congress, 
Montgomery was second to none. He was "the embodi- 
ment of the true gentleman and chivalrous soldier," and 
in his veins flowed the best of the French and English 
blood. 

IV 

Philip Freneau, Poet 

So expert a critic as the late Mr. Stedman asserted that Laureate 

^ of the 

the "first essential poetic spirit" in American letters is Revolution 
to be found in the earlier odes and lyrics of Philip 
Freneau. He has been fitly called the "Laureate of the 
Revolution," and his name will always be remembered 
in connection w^ith the history of American literature as 
the first poet to be produced on this continent. Mr. 
Stedman says further of Freneau that he was "a true 
poet, one of nature's lyrists, who had the temperament 
of a Landor and was much what the Warwick classicist 
might have been if bred, afar from Oxford, to the life of 
a pioneer and revolutionist, spending his vital surplusage 
in action, bellicose journalism and new- world verse." 

Philip Freneau was born in New York on January 2, Birth in 1752 
1752. The best Huguenot blood flowed in his veins, the 
Freneaus being an able and distinguished family. His 
grandfather, Andre Fresneau, emigrated to Boston in 
1705 ; journeyed thence to Connecticut, where he was en- 
gaged for a while in mining ventures ; and finally arrived 
in New York to take a position with the Royal West 
India Company. Here his son Pierre was born, who was 
the father of the poet. Pierre was so successful in his 
business affairs that the year his son Philip was born he 
was able to purchase a large estate in Monmouth County, 
New Jersey, and build thereon a handsome spacious 
mansion. Two years later he retired from active business 
and withdrew with his family to his picturesque estate. 
Here Philip was surrounded by everything that might 
tend to develop his poetic impulse. 



270 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Princeton After a due course of preparation in the classics he 

entered Princeton College. Tradition has it that his 
roommate there was James Madison. Certain it was that 
Madison was among his classmates, as were Aaron Burr, 
Aaron Ogden and Hugh Henry Breckenridge. While in 
college he gave much of his time to writing poetry, and 
the year before his graduation in 1771 he and his friend 
Breckenridge published a volume of verses. The years 
between his leaving college and the breaking out of the 
Revolution were devoted to teaching, and various light 
skirmishes with the law, with theology, and with medi- 
cine. Many of his choicest nature-lyrics were written 

Martial Songs during this period. In 1775 the cause of freedom aroused 
Freneau to a high pitch of activity, and he freely gave 
all that he had in the way of satirical power to arousing 
the spirit of the public. He did not enter the army, but 
it is safe to say that his satires and his martial songs ac- 
complished more for the cause of Independence than his 
individual efforts as a soldier could have done. While 
sailing in Delaware Bay in 1780, he was taken prisoner 
by the British man-o'-war Iris, and spent many weary 
weeks aboard an English prison- ship. When he was at 
last released, he returned to New Jersey weak from fever 
and hardship, but firm in will. He now had a personal 
grievance to add to the fires of his zeal against the red- 
coats, and his satire and invective became more biting 
and effective than at first. Many of his pieces achieved 
a wide-spread popularity among the troops and the 
people, and did much to foster the spirit of patriotic 
ardour. 

When the war was over, Freneau engaged in many 
journalistic enterprises, the most notable of which was 
the editing of The National Gazette. 

Freneau espoused the cause of Jefferson, as against the 
Federalists under the leadership of Alexander Hamilton, 
and became involved thereby in a long train of acrimo- 
nious disputes. And while Freneau was of too independ- 



Poems of 
Patriotism 



Editor 



SOME PEOMINENT NAMES 271 

ent a nature to allow his paper to become a mere tool in 
the hands of his able friends, it was recognized, never- 
theless as the semi-oflicial organ of Jefferson and Madi- 
son. Towards the latter part of his life, Freneau for- 
sook journalism, and in partnership with one of his 
brothers ventured his fortune in trade with the West 
Indies, the poet himself acting as commander of a brig. 
He seems, indeed, to have been decidedly proud of his 
title as ''Captain Freneau." His death, which was a 
tragic one, occurred in December of the year 1832. 

Of Freneau, Professor Bronson, one of the best of 
recent critics of American literature, writes : "In poems 
of fancy and imagination he was the most original and 
truly poetical poet in America before the nineteenth cen- 
tury. . . . The ' Wild Honeysuckle ' is the high- 
water mark of American poetry of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, in delicacy of feeling and felicity of expression be- 
ing at least the equal of Bryant's 'To the Fringed 
Gentian.' When such lines were possible in the very 
infancy of the national life, there was no reason to de- 
spair for the futui'e of American literature." 

V 
Heney David Thoreau 
In connection with Freneau we may properly speak of 
Thoreau, though he was a New Englander. Henry David a New 
Thoreau, born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1817, was character 
the great-grandson of Philippe Thoreau and his wife 
Marie le Gallais, French refugees who settled at St. 
Helier in the Island of Jersey. The events of his life 
are few and simple. At school and at Harvard Univer- 
sity he did not distinguish himself as a student, but yet 
managed to pick up enough Latin and Greek to qualify 
himself as a quondam schoolmaster. The profession of 
teaching, however, proved to be extremely distasteful to 
him, and abandoning it after a short trial he devoted 
himself to the family occupation — pencil-making. But 



272 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

what men call the '^ business of life" accorded little with 
the aims and interests of Henry Thoreau. ''He had 
early discovered, by virtue of that keen insight which 
looked through the outer husk of conventionality, that 
what is called profit in the bustle of commercial life is 
often far from being, in the true sense, profitable ; that 
the just claims of leisure are fully as important as the 
just claims of business ; and that the surest way of be- 
coming rich is to need little ; in his own words, ' a man 
is rich in proportion to the number of the things which 
he can afford to let alone.' " 
A Lover of Hc Tcfused to pledge himself "to some professional 

Nature j. o 

treadmill, and for the sake of imaginary ' comforts ' sac- 
rifice the substantial hapj)iuess of life." He gave himself 
over to a "loitering" in which idleness held no part. 
Supporting himself by pencil-making, surveying, lectur- 
ing and writing, as occasion demanded, he spent the bulk 
of his time in the study of wild nature. ' ' His business 
was to spend at least one half of each day in the open 
air ; to watch the dawns and the sunsets ; to carry ex- 
press what was in the wind ; to secure the latest news 
from forest and hilltop, and to be ' self-appointed in- 
spector of snow-storms and rain-storms.' " 

In 1845 he built a hut near Walden Pond and retired 
to a closer intimacy with nature. " His residence on the 
shore of Walden Pond has often been misinterpreted," 
says Professor Bronson, in his History of American Liter- 
ature. " It was only an episode in his life, and he never 
meant to preach by it that all men should live in huts 
or that civilization was a mistake. Eather it was a 
demonstration, first to himself and then to others, that 
man's happiness and higher life are not dependent upon 
luxuries nor even upon external refinements." After 
two years of life in his simple hermitage he returned to 
Concord, where he supported his mother and sisters 
largely through the old trade of pencil -making. He died 
on May 6, 1862, at the age of forty-five. 





Henry D. Thoreau 



Philip Frencau 





Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 



John Gieenleaf Whittier 



SOME PROMINENT NAMES 273 

Thoreaii's life and writings, taken together, form a The Life of 
strong protest against the modern vice of over-atten- Emphasized 
tion to the mere externals of life. Says his biographer, 
Henry Salt: ''He shows us that it is possible for 
men to-day to live as the Stoics strove to live, in ac- 
cordance with Nature, with absolute serenity and self- 
possession ; to follow out one's own ideal in spite of every 
obstacle, with unfaltering devotion ; and so to simplify 
one's life, and clarify one's senses, as to master many of 
the secrets of that book of Nature which to most men 
remains unintelligible and unread." 

It was Thoreau's distinction to be the pioneer among 
Americans in the nature study that is the favourite pur- a pioneer in 
suit of so many to-day. He was the apostle of the simple ^ ""^^ " ^ 
life, and lived as he preached. He tells us of his house- 
keeping methods at Walden : ''When my floor was 
dirty I rose early, and setting all my furniture out of 
doors on the grass, bed and bedstead making but one 
budget, dashed water on the floor, and sprinkled white 
sand from the j^ond on it, and then with a broom scrubbed 
it clean and white ; and by the time the villagers had 
broken their fast, the morning sun had dried my house 
sufliciently to allow me to move in again, and my medi- 
tations were almost uninterrupted. It was pleasant to see 
my whole household effects upon the grass, making a 
little pile like a gipsy's pack, and my three-legged table, 
from which I did not remove the books and pen and ink, 
standing amidst the j^ines and hickories." 

If Thoreau seemed unsympathetic to certain classes of 
people, he loved childi^en and animals, and was at home 
with them and they with him. He proved his theory 
" that to maintain oneself on this earth is not a hardship 
but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely. ' ' Here is 
a characteristic description of himself by Thoreau : " Am 
not married. I don't know whether mine is a profession, 
or a trade, or what not. It is not learned, and in every 
instance has been practiced before being studied. The 



274 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



A Self-Char- 
acterization 



A Pen 
Portrait 



Poem on the 
Sea 



mercantile part of it was begun by myself alone. I am a 
Schoolmaster, a private Tutor, a Surveyor, a Gardener, a 
Farmer, a Painter (I mean a House Painter), a Carpen- 
ter, a Mason, a Day-labourer, a Pencil-maker, a Writer, 
and sometimes a Poetaster, . . . My steadiest em- 
ployment is to keep myself at the toj) of my condition, 
and ready for whatever may turn up in heaven or on 
earth. ' ' 

Thoreau maintained sincerity to be chief of all virtues, 
and may be called a Yankee stoic. He held the old 
stoical maxim that all places are the same to the wise 
man, and that ''the best place for each is where he 
stands." On the same principle, being asked at table 
what dish he preferred, he is said to have answered, 
"The nearest." He was a radical abolitionist, and a 
patriotic American. His wi'itings have given him high 
rank among literary men, and his influence abides. 
Ellery Channing, an intimate friend, thus describes his 
appearance : 

"His face, once seen, could not be forgotten. The 
features were quite marked : the nose aquiline, or very 
Eomau, like one of the ijortraits of Cffisar ; large, over- 
hanging brow above the deepest-set blue eyes that could 
be seen, in certain lights, and in other gray — eyes ex- 
pressive of all shades of feeling, but never weak or near- 
sighted ; the forehead not unusually broad or high, full 
of concentrated energy or purpose ; the mouth with 
prominent lips, pursed up with meaning and thought 
when silent, and giving out when open a stream of the 
most varied and unusual and instructive sayings. His 
whole figure had an active earnestness, as if he had no 
moment to waste." New England and America needed 
just such an influence as this scholar and genius of French 
descent exerted. 

Space forbids quotations that would show Thoreau' s 
pithy and witty prose style, and we can give but a single 



SOME PROMINENT NAMES 275 

illustration of his poetry. These stanzas on the sea were 
written at Staten Island : 

' ' My life is like a stroll upon the beach, 
As near the ocean's edge as I can go ; 
My tardy steps its waves sometimes o'erreach, 
Sometimes I stay to let them overflow. 

" My sole employment 'tis, and scrupulous care, 
To place my gains beyond the reach of tides, 
Each smoother pebble, and each shell more rare, 
Which Ocean kindly to my hand confides. 

* ' I have but few companions on the shore : 

They scorn the strand who sail upon the sea ; 
Yet oft I think the ocean they've sailed o'er 
Is deeper known upon the strand to me. ' ' 

VI 

Matthew Vassae 

Among the men of Huguenot blood who have through Founder of 
philanthropy written their names indelibly on history's ^^^^"^ ° ^^^ 
page must be placed Matthew Vassar, founder of Vassar 
College, the original woman's college of the first order 
established in any land. Matthew Vassar was born in 
England, but came to America when a young child with 
his parents. His father was the direct descendant of a 
Huguenot exile who found a home in England. Mat- 
thew's mother was led to brew English ale, in order to 
stop the common drinking of whiskey by the farm hands. 
Her brew was so popular that it largely replaced the 
stronger liquor, and demands for it increased until the 
son began to brew as a business. Out of this beginning 
developed the Vassar brewery, which was famous for 
many years, and which made a large fortune for the 
family. 

Not a highly educated man himself, Matthew Vassar 
appreciated education, and was of a philanthropic turn. 
He wanted to do good with his money. He established a 



276 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

home for old men, and had plans for a hospital. The 
subject of woman's education interested him, and he 
thought women should have as good educational advan- 
tages as men. He was ready, therefore, to consider the 
matter with Professor Eaymond, who had worked out the 
plans for a distinctive woman's college. Mr. Vassar 
furnished the capital, and Vassar College was started as 
an experiment, with Professor Eaymond as president. 
Into this enterprise, which grew far beyond the original 
plans, Matthew Vassar put a large part of his fortune ; 
and had the satisfaction of seeing the institution a great 
success before he was taken away. This was the pioneer, 
but soon his example was followed — in Massachusetts by 
Mr. Duraut, who founded Wellesley. To-day the women's 
colleges are thriving and numerous, and hold the highest 
rank, while their thousands of alumni are to be found in 
all parts of the land. Huguenot descendants may remem- 
ber with just pride that the first of these institutions, and 
one still in the front rank, was due to the philanthropy 
and far-sightedness of one of their number. 

vn 

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet 
The Gallaudet Quc of the Hugucuot emigrants from Fra,nce was Peter 

Ancestry ^ "^ 

Gallaudet, who left Mauze, near La Eochelle, shortly after 
the Eevocation, and came to America, transferring to new 
shores the traditions of a family long identified by act 
and sympathy with the cause of Protestantism. Gal- 
laudet settled in New Eochelle, whence his descendants 
have spread to various parts of the country. 

One of Gallaudet' s great-grandsons was Thomas Hop- 
kins Gallaudet, who more than any other member of the 
family has brought the name into prominence. Thomas 
was born in Philadelphia in 1787, and there spent his 
early days. Moving to Hartford in 1800, he entered Yale, 
and was graduated in 1805. The three following years he 
spent as travelling salesman for a New York firm. Then 



SOME PROMINENT NAMES 277 

for two years he tutored iu Yale, and for three more at- 
tended the Andover Theological Seminary, graduating in 
1814. During this educational period there were un- 
folded in Gallaudet the characteristics which have alwaj s 
marked the Huguenots — sociability, a wide range of in- 
terests and sympathies, versatility, ingenuity, and a 
desire to turn all faculties to account in unselfish human 
service. 

Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century organ- instruction for 
ized charity was a thing unknown in New England. Es- ^^^^^^^^^ 
pecially pitiable was the x>light of the deaf mutes, of 
whom, it was estimated, there were four hundred in New 
England, all out of reach of instruction. One of these 
deaf mutes was Alice Coggswell, daughter of a wealthy 
physician of Hartford. She had been afflicted from an 
early age ; as she approached maturity her father was im- 
pelled to find some means of relieving her tragic situa- 
tion. Several philanthrox^ists joined with him in the ef- 
fort to establish regular instruction for deaf mutes in 
America. The first step was to secure an American who 
would undertake to learn the methods of instruction 
abroad. Their plans reached the point of action at the 
very time when Gallaudet was deciding on his career. 
His name was at once brought forward, the more readily 
because he had for some time shown an interest in Alice 
Coggswell, and had even succeeded in teaching her a few 
words. 

Gallaudet accepted the commission with a confidence 
which was characteristic, crossed the ocean, and after en- organizes the 
countering many obstacles, induced the Abbe Sicard, in institution foi 

Deaf Mutes 

Paris, to teach him. Here he worked zealously for a 
year, varying his labour by preaching. At the end of this 
time he returned to America, fitted for introducing the 
approved French methods of instruction. From 1817 to 
1830 he controlled the policy and working of the Hart- 
ford Institution for Deaf Mutes. So intense was his ap- 
plication during these thirteen years, in the face of a 



278 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



steadily declining physique, that when at length ill 
health compelled him to resign, he left the institution 
equipped with well -trained instructors, and in shape to 
continue its activities unimpaired. 

Gallaudet found that the relief from continuous labour 
gave him a new lease of activity. He was at once offered 
several promising positions, but declined them all, and 
applied himself for some years to writing books of 
various kinds, principally books for children, such 
as The Child's Book of the Soul (1830), and Bible 
Stories for the Young (1838), for which he was admi- 
rably fitted by his pedagogic experience. In 1838 he 
found congenial employment as chaplain of the Hartford 
Eetreat for the Insane. Here he carried on a gentle 
ministry for long and profitable years, until his death in 
1851. His sons have carried forward the noble work in 
which he was so long engaged, and the family name is 
one that will be held in high honour for splendid service 
rendered in the cause of humanity. The deaf mutes of 
America and the world owe a large debt of gratitude to 
the Huguenot descendants who have consecrated their 
lives to opening the world of thought, knowledge and 
communication to a class of unfortunates. 




^^^^{^My.... 



CHAPTEE Vn 
JOHN AND STEPHEN GANO 



MIISISTER of prominence in New York and New 
Jersey during the Revolutionary period was Rev. 



A 

X .A. John Gano, a Baptist. This exceptionally able Baptist 
man, who was to come into somewhat intimate relations Patriot 
with Washington, was a descendant of the French refugee 
family of Ganeau, which settled in Rhode Island. It was 
John Gano's great-grandfather Francis who came to this 
country to escape persecution. John was born at Hope- 
well, New Jersey, 1727, being thus six years older than 
Washington. He has left a most interesting autobiog- 
raphy, in which he states that he believed himself con- 
verted when about eighteen. His father was a Presbyte- 
rian, but his mother was a Baptist, and after careful consid- 
eration he thought it his duty to join a Baptist church. 
Thus that denomination gained a minister of great in- 
fluence and usefulness. He early felt convictions of duty 
to enter the ministry, and decided to do so, though he 
shrank from the calling. He was educated at Princeton 
College, at "that time kept in Newark, and governed by 
President Burr, with whom I was a great favourite," he 
tells us. Before leaving college he began to preach and 
made a missionary journey to Virginia. He was gifted 
as writer and speaker, had a fine presence and great 
magnetism, so that his fame grew rapidly and he was re- 
peatedly invited to pastorates before his studies were 
finished. Morristown became his temporary home, and 
subsequently he accepted the call of the church there. 
The church record for October, 1755, says : "Mr. Gano 
at the earnest request of the church concluded to settle 

279 



280 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

with us for the sum of forty pounds a year." He mar- 
ried Sarah Stites, daughter of the mayor of Elizabeth- 
Towu, and thus became related indirectly to James 
Manning, the first president of Brown University, who 
married his wife's sister. The young minister bought a 
farm near Morristowu, and thus managed together with 
his meagre salary to meet current expenses. But he was 
not long to remain there. Missionary in spirit he spent 
two years in North Carolina, among the religiously desti- 
tute people, and then returning North, organized the 
First Baptist Church of New York City, and for twenty- 
six years was its pastor and a citizen of no little repute. 
During this period he also served for a time as pastor of 
the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, spending two 
Sundays of the mouth there ; since preachers of his rank 
were few and in great demand. 
Chaplain At the Outbreak of the Eevolutionary War John Gano 

in the "^ 

Revolution became chaplain, and remained in the army seven years, 
giving a devoted and highly acceptable service. More 
than once he was uuder fire. Part of the time he served 
as aide to General James Clinton. He participated in 
the capture of the Hessians at Trenton, the overthrow of 
the English allies — the Penuisylvania Indians, and reached 
Yorktown just too late to witness the surrender of Coru- 
wallis. When peace was at last concluded, and the 
happy event celebrated at Washington's headquarters, 
near Newburgh, April 19, 1783, Chaplain Gano was 
selected by General Washington to offer the prayer of 

Usefulness thauksgiviug on that joyous and memorable occasion. 

washi"ngton''^ After the war, Washington said, "Baptist chaplains 
were the most prominent and useful in the army." Gen- 
eral Washington and Mr. Gano were close friends, and 
this compliment applied especially to him. 

When peace was restored, Mr. Gano returned to his 
New York pastorate. In 1788 he resigned to go to Ken- 
tucky. He became at once the leading preacher of that 
State and for ten years rendered most efficient service, 



JOHN AND STEPHEN GANO 



281 



An American 
Apostle 



In 1798 he fell from his horse, breaking his shoulder. 
Soon after he was stricken with paralysis. During the 
Great Revival, 1800-1803, his speech was restored and he 
preached, as a contemporary described it, "in an as- 
tonishing manner." 

Consider what an influence was exerted by this Hugue- 
not descendant. The territory covered by his labours was 
larger than that of the Apostle Paul. It extended from 
Connecticut to Georgia and west to the Kentucky Eiver. 
He was interested in all of the denominational enterprises 
of his time. He was one of the first home missionaries 
sent out by the Philadelphia Association, the first Amer- 
ican Baptist chaplain, a loyal supporter of Hopewell 
Academy and Ehode Island College. He was present en- 
couraging the movement when the South Carolina Baptists 
set apart the first money for the education of their young 
preachers. From this beginning came the Southern Bap- 
tist Theological Seminary. He gave sound Calvinistic 
colouiing to the theology of the Virginia Baptists, and 
stirred all the churches to which he preached with mis- 
sionary zeal. 

II 

Eev. Stephen Gano, son of John Gano, was a man of a worthy son 
mark, whose chief work was done in Rhode Island, where 
his ancestor Francis found refuge. Like John Gano, the 
son possessed great personal magnetism and charm. He 
had the French clearness of style, vividness of imagina- 
tion, warmth of temperament, and flow of language. At 
the same time he combined with pulpit power executive 
ability, and was marked by strong common sense and 
practical judgment. He was a leader in Providence, as 
John Gano was in New York and later in Kentucky. As 
pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of Provi- 
dence — the church founded by Roger \yilliams, that 
great apostle of religions liberty — Stephen Gano exerted 
a wide influence. He held this pastorate from 1793 till 
his death in 1828, a period of thirty -five years. In every 



Pastor of 
First Baptist 
Church, 
Founded by 
Roger 
Williams 



282 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

way this ministry was remarkable. Dr. S. L. Caldwell, 
one of his biographers, says : " He had what I may call 
a pastoral heart. Of large person, of loud, almost sten- 
torian voice, he spoke with fluency ; often pathetic and 
hortatory in his application of truth, always possessed 
with a strong conviction of it, he had power over a large 
audience, which during his time filled the house." 

Stephen Gano was filled with the missionary spirit that 
characterized the early Baptist ministry. During a 
journey to the West, while visiting his brother in Cincin- 
nati, he organized the first Protestant church of any de- 
nomination in the State of Ohio. It was located in a 
little settlement known as Columbia, now within the city 
limits of Cincinnati. The church continues in existence. 
Interested in education, he stimulated the founding of 
colleges and academies, as well as of churches, and was 
a loyal supporter of Brown ITniversity. Two denomina- 
tional leaders of their generation were thus contributed 
to American life by that brave Huguenot who fled from 
his home in France by night, and after many perils 
found refuge in that freest of colonies, where Roger Will- 
iams guaranteed to all the religious liberty for which he 
himself had twice been exiled. 




SECOND FRENCH CHURCH ON PINE STREET, I704, USED TILL l8'*I, NEW YORK 



CHAPTER VIII 
NEW PALTZ 



THE Huguenot settlement at New Paltz was 1677 
brought about by the purchase of a tract of land 
from the Indian owners in the year 1677. In 
consideration of the rights acquired, the patentees agreed pj^^e*^^®^ 
to pay to the Indians the following articles : 

Forty kettles, ten large, thirty small ; forty axes, forty 
adzes ; forty shirts ; four hundred fathoms of white net- 
work ; sixty pairs of stockings, half small sizes ; one hun- 
dred bars of lead ; one keg of powder ; one hundred 
knives ; four kegs of wine ; forty oars ; forty pieces of 
''duffel" (heavy woolen cloth); sixty blankets; one 
hundred needles ; one hundred awls ; one measure of 
tobacco ; two horses — one stallion, one mare. 

The twelve men who thus agreed to collect the above The Twelve 
assortment of merchandise and put it into the possession 
of the Esopus Indians were all Huguenots who had come 
to the New World by way of the Paltz, of Palatinate. 
Their names, as appended to the deed with all the bliss- 
ful ignorance of spelling which marked the period, were 
as follows : Lowies Du Booys, Christian de Yoo, Agra- 
ham Gaesbroeco, Andrie Lefeber, Jan Broeco, Piere 
Doyo, Anthony Crespel, Anraham Du Booys, Hugo 
Freer, Isaack D. Boojs, Symon Lefeber, Louis Baijvier. 
Previous to their coming to America, these men had 
taken refuge in and about Mannheim, in the Palatinate, 
and had there formed the ties of friendship which led to 
their association in the founding of New Paltz. 

The first of the Mannheim party to arrive in America 

283 



284 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



The First 
Comers 



Wiltwyck 



Harmony and 
Peace 



was Matthew Blanshan and his wife, Maddeleen Jorisse, 
together with his sou-iu-law, Authony Chrispel. They 
sailed in the Gilded Otter in April, 16G0, and by Decem- 
ber of the same year were settled in the village of Wilt- 
wyck, now called Hurley. The following year Louis 
Du Bois and his wife Catherine Blanshan, with their two 
sons, Abraham and Isaac, took up their residence there 
also. Simon and Andre Le Fevre were in Wiltwyck by 
April 23, 1665, on which day they united with the 
church. Owing to the disturbed condition of the prov- 
ince at that time, no more members of the group left 
Mannheim until the year 1672, when Jean Hasbrouck 
and his wife, Anna, daughter of Christian Deyo, joined 
their friends. Louis Beviere and his wife, Maria La 
Blan, came to New York in 1673, where they remained 
until the founding of New Paltz, four years later. In 
1675 Abraham Hasbrouck came to Boston, and shortly 
afterwards made his way to the banks of the Hudson. 
Hugh Frere and his wife, Mary Haye, with their three 
children, came over about 1676 ; as did Christian Deyo, 
with his son Pierre, and his daughter-in-law, Agatha 
Nickol, and his three unmarried daughters. Thus slowly 
the little group was reunited, and when the circle was 
complete the project was formed whereby its members 
might dwell together in peace and amity. 

The life of the settlement was harmonious from the first. 
The colonists lived on the friendliest terms with their 
Indian neighbours, who always considered that they had 
been treated with fairness in the matter of the purchase 
of the land ; and among themselves they acted as brothers 
in Arcadia. At the commencement of the colony the 
patentees and their families all laboured together in 
clearing the land, in erecting their log dwellings, and in 
planting their first crops. Afterwards, they met together 
and portioned out the lands among themselves by word 
of mouth, dispensing with the formality of deeds. 

A form of town government was inaugurated that is 




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aiBBSMt^:-... . .S^'^^^^^Tx ML 



OLD HUGUENOT HOUSES AT NEW TALTZ 



NEW PALTZ 285 

without a close parallel in our colonial history. At first a Novel Town 
the heads of the families met together and settled what- °^'=''"'"^" 
ever public business there was on hand. But as the town 
grew in numbers, this primitive democracy gave way to 
a unique institution locally known as the Dusine, or 
Twelve Men. The Dusine was a legislative and execu- 
tive body made up of twelve members who were elected 
annually by a popular vote. To the Dusine was giveu The Dusine 
' ' full power and Authority to Act and Sett in Good order 
and unity all Common Affairs, Businessess or things 
comeing before them." K its powers were autocratic, 
its composition was certainly aristocratic ; for no one bufc 
a patentee or an heir of a patentee could be elected to the 
Twelve. That is to say, the active government of the 
town was vested in the families of the twelve original 
settlers. This peculiar condition of government was con- 
tinued until 1785, when the town was incorporated in the 
State government, and the previous measures of the 
Dusine were confirmed by a special Act of Legislature. 

When the first settlers of New Paltz alighted from church and 
their wagons, one of their number read a psalm of 
thanksgiving, and one of the earliest log buildings which 
was erected was devoted to uses as a church and school- 
house. In this cabin the little community of Pluguenots 
kei)t alive the traditions of the Keformation, meeting 
there for informal devotions led by one of their own 
number, reading passages from the Bible, singing the^ 
sonorous hymns which had been rendered sacred by the 
blood of so many martyrs, and uttering simple prayers. 
Five years after the establishment of the town a regular 
church was organized under the advice and guidance of 
the worthy Eev. Pierre Daille. A translation of the first 
entry in the church records is as follows : 

The 22d of January, 1683, Mr. Pierre Daille, minister of the Word Missionary 
of God, arrived at New Paltz, and preached twice on the following Daille 
Sunday, and proposed to the heads of the families that they should 
choose by a majority of votes, by the fathers of families, one elder and 



286 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

one deacon, to assist the minister in guiding the members of the church 
that meets in New Paltz ; who were subsequently confirmed in the 
said charge of elder and deacon. This minute has been made to put 
in order the matters which pertain to the said church. 

For ten years Daille acted as pastor to liis countrymen 
in New Paltz, His principal field of labour was in New 
York, but he never failed to visit New Paltz for a time 
in the spring, and then again in the fall. The difficulties 
and hardships of the long journeys he was thus forced to 
make cannot easily be overestimated ; they are a splendid 
testimony to the unflagging zeal and loyal devotion to 
duty which marked the man. The same must be said of 
his successor, the Eev. David Bonrepos, who, from 1696 
to 1700, journeyed from his pastorate at Staten Island to 
New Paltz twice a year. After Bonrepos ceased to visit 
them it is probable that for the next thirty years they 
had no regular pastor ; for they had not, as yet, united 
with the Dutch Church, and those few French ministers 
who had come to this country were by this time dead, or 
Chur^ch^ ^ ^^^^ settled in other pastorates. But although there was 
thus every temptation to leave neglected the duties of 
their religion, such was neither the spirit nor intent of 
our refugees. They kej)t up their informal worship in 
the log cabin until it became too small for their rapidly 
increasing numbers, and then they set about building a 
more suitable house of worship. This edifice, which was 
constructed of stone, was completed in 1717, and was in 
use until 1773, when a larger church was built. When 
the church was finally completed, the following entry was 
made in the record book : 



1717 



Blessed be God, who has put it into our hearts to build a house 

Dedication where He may be adored and served, and that by His grace we have 

finished it in the year 1717 ; and God grant that His gospel may be 

preached here from one age to another till the day of eternity. Amen. 

Our Huguenots were no bigots or petty sectarians, for 
during the thirty year interval when they were without 



NEW PALTZ 287 

a pastor, they took their children to the Dutch church 
at Kiugston, sixteen miles away, to be bai^tized ; and 
duriug the summer mouths they were iu the habit of 
takiue; the rough iouruey through the forest to ioiu with uniting with 

° , . . . , '' the Dutch 

their Dutch brethren in receiving the communion. A 
sixteen mile journey through the woods and unbridged 
streams was no luxury ; there were no spring wagons for 
the women and children to ride in, and the trip had to be 
made either afoot or on horseback, for the highway of 
that day was nothing more than a rude trail. 

The lack of sectarianism that prevailed in the New 
Paltz community was clearly shown in the choice of their 
next pastor, the Eev. Johannes Van Driessen, a minister 
of the Dutch faith who had been educated in Belgium. 
The salary which he received was the munificent sum of 
£10 a year, but it is highly probable that he devoted but 
a small proportion of his time to the New Paltz congre- 
gation. The first entries which he made in the chui-ch 
book were in French, and iu one place he refers to the 
church as "our French church." This was in 1731. 
Twenty years later, however, the New Paltz church had 
ceased to be distinctively French, and we find the next 
pastor, the Eev. B. Vrooman, making an inquiry as to 
whether the members accepted the doctrines of the Dutch 
Reformed chui'ch according to the Heidelberg catechism. 
Dutch was being more and more generally spoken in New 
Paltz, and an interesting evidence of its rapid growth iu 
popular use is found in a clause of Jean Tebeuin's will 
wherein the old schoolmaster gives his property to the 
church with the provision that if the French language 
should be entirely superseded, the Bible should be sold 
and the proceeds given to the poor. 

Coincident with the founding of a church at New Paltz 
was the founding of a school. Out of their scanty fortunes Education 
these worthy pioneers set aside a sum sufficient to employ Appreciated 
a schoolmaster. Jean Tebenin was the first to fill the 
position, which he retained uutil 1700. Jean Cottin fol- 



288 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

lowed iu his footsteps. That he was treated with the 
greatest liberality is evidenced by the following deed of 
gift which the citizens bestowed upon him ; this docu- 
ment also throws a strong light on the character of the 
men who made up the colony and the ideals they had in 
mind in regulating its growth : 

A Gift to the We the uudersigned gentlemeu, resident proprietors of the twelve 

Schoolmaster , , ,, .,, „ ^^ ^ ,, , , „ -.^. 

parts of the village oi New Faltz, a dependency of Kingston, county 

of Ulster, province of New York, certify that of our good will and to 
give pleasure to Jean Cottin, schoolmaster at said Paltz, we to him 
have given gratuitously a little cottage to afford him a home, situated 
at said Paltz, at the end of the street on the left hand near the large 
clearing extending one " lizier " to the place reserved for building the 
church and continuing in a straight line to the edge of the clearing, 
thence one " lizier " to the extremity of the clearing, and we guarantee 
the said Cottin that he shall be placed in possession without any 
troulile and we allow said Cottin to cut wood convenient for his pur- 
pose for building and he is given the pasturage for two cows and their 
calves and a mare and colt. We the proprietors at the same time 
agree among ourselves, for the interest of our own homes to request 
said Cottin that he will not sell the above mentioned property to any 
one not of good life and manners, and we are not to keep said Cottin 
as schoolmaster longer than we think fit and proper. 

Progress and By Steady toil and exercise of thrift the descendants 
rospenty ^^ ^j^^ patentees raised themselves to a comfortable degree 
of prosperity. Within a few years after the building of 
the town, the original wooden houses gave way to spacious 
and solid structures of stone, many of which are standing 
to-day, still occupied by direct descendants of the build- 
ers. This is one of the marks of the town, that the fami- 
lies of the founders still cling to the locality. The hurry 
and bustle of modern American life is not felt to any 
great degree in New Paltz, and men may be seen tilling 
the fields that their great-great-grandfathers tilled before 
them. 

For many years one of the Huguenot descendants, Mr. 
Ealph LeFevre, of New Paltz, has been gathering facts 
concerning the families which trace their origin to the 



NEW PALTZ 



289 



Esopus colony, and he has recently published the results 
of his zealous laboui- in a large and handsome volume, 
entitled History of New Paltz and its Old Families, which 
goes minutely into family history. We are largely in-- 
debted to him for the facts given above, and for other 
favours. 




I' .. V 1 . .- » • - .. . - - 

SECOND STONE CHURCH -C IVtw P/\L.Ti. 



PAET THEEE 

PENNSYLVANIA AND THE SOUTHERN 
STATES 



CHAPTEE I 



PENNSYLVAi^IA AND DELAWAEE 



First White 

Settlers 

Huguenots 



Probably as 
Early as 1625 



Penn's Grant 
1681 



s 



EVEN years before the building of Fort Nassau on 
a branch of the Delaware Eiver and the granting 
of patents to Godyn and his colleagues, a small 
trading station was erected on an island (now almost en- 
tirely washed away) in the Delaware a short distance be- 
low the present town of Trenton Falls. The hardy settlers 
who undertook the labour of establishing this station in 
the wilderness, and who thus isolated themselves from all 
contact with civilization, were members of the band of 
refugees, collected by Jesse de Forest, which reached 
New York in the spring of 1623. Although the attempt 
was an abortive one and had to be abandoned a few years 
later, nevertheless the four young couples who made up 
the garrison of the trading station are entitled to recogni- 
tion as the first white settlers of Pennsylvania. Unless 
new facts come into the light of history, we may safely 
say that the first homes which were built in that com- 
monwealth which has proved such an asylum for the 
persecuted, were erected by the most bitterly persecuted 
of all European people, the Huguenots. 

Prior to the grant to William Penu in 1681, the region 
now known as Pennsylvania, and which then included the 
state of Delaware, contained many French refugees among 
its inhabitants. The names of most of these settlers have 

290 



PENN^SYLVANIA AND DELAWARE 291 



passed iuto oblivion ; in some cases being irrecoverably- 
lost, in other cases being so confused with the Dutch and 
Swedish colonists as to defy all attempt at separation. 
It is not altogether strange that the early settlers in Penn- 
sylvania who were of French descent lost their national 
identity. The majority of them did not come direct from 
France, but from Germany and Holland, where most of 
them had long resided and where many of them, indeed, 
had been born. During their residence in the Palatine 
and in Holland, they identified themselves with the in- 
habitants of those countries in speech and name. That 
faculty which the Huguenots jjossessed to an eminent de- 
gree, and which made of them such desirable immigrants, 
the ability to adapt themselves readily to new conditions 
and new environments, operated against the preservation 
of their identity as Frenchmen. How completely had 
the Gallic flavour disappeared from such a typical Ger- 
man name as Kieffer, or such a typical Dutch name as 
De Witte ! Yet the Kieffers, of Pennsylvania, and the 
De Wittes, of New York, were once the Tonnelliers and 
the Le Blancs of France. And even Peter Minuit, "the 
discontented governor," is described as a German by our 
historian Bancroft. Little wonder, then, that the Hugue- 
not settlers in America have never received their due 
meed of justice at the hands of historians, and have 
never been given the popular recognition which they de- 
serve. 

A majority of the French settlers in the Delaware region 
came over at the time of the first general influx of emi- 
grants from the Palatine ; roughly speaking, between the 
years 1654 and 1664. The names of some of the more 
prominent of these refugees have been preserved, and the 
positions which some of them held in the colony give 
proof of the high esteem in which the Huguenots were 
held among the Dutch. The first Huguenot of note to 
take up his residence in the Delaware colony was the ex- 
director of the New Netherlands, Peter Minuit, something 



French 
Identity Lost 



Adaptability 



Kieffers 
De Wittes 
Minuit of 
French 
Extraction 



Influx 
1654-1664 



292 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



lacquett 
Vice- 
Director 



of whose history is given in another section of this book. 
During Minuit's residence in Delaware the colony came 
Minuit founds uuflcr the rulc of Sweden, and Minuit was appointed gov- 
ernor. During his term of office, which was a short one, 
lasting only from April 28, 1638, to January 30, 1640, he 
founded the town of Christiana in Delaware, where he 
died the year following his release as governor. 

After the Dutch had regained possession of the colony 
from the Swedes, another Huguenot was placed in a po- 
sition of the highest authority. Jean Paul Jacquett, born 
in Nuremberg of French parents, was apijointed vice- 
director in 1655, and was responsible to the governor of 
New Netherlands for the welfare of the colony. Doubt- 
less the fact that a refugee occupied the highest position 
in the colony had much to do with the coming of num- 
bers of his brethren, for at just about this time a con- 
siderable tide of immigration set in. Later on, in 1676, 
Jacquett was made a justice, and was in other ways a 
man of great distinction in the colony. He died in 1684, 
at a patriarchal age. Among his descendants may be 
mentioned his great-grandson. Major Peter Jacquett, who 
was a gallant officer in the Continental Army. Two 
years after Jacquett was made justice. Captain John de 
Haes was elevated to the same office. Previous to this he 
had been commissioner to receive and take charge of quit 
rents, and later, collector of customs at New Castle. 
Another Huguenot who was prominent in the govern- 
ment of the colony for many years was Alexander Boyer, 
who as early as 1648 had been made deputy commissioner 
of Delaware. 

Among the earlier settlers on the Delaware were the 
Le Fever brothers, Jacques, Hypolite and Jean. Joost 
de la Grange came to America in 1656 by way of Hol- 
land, and became the owner of Tinicum Island in 1662. 
He left a son named Aruoldus. Gerrit Rutan was a cit- 
izen of the colony before 1660, and established a family 
well known in Pennsylvania, of which the Hon. James 



De Haes 



Boyer 



Other 
Families 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWAEE 293 

S. Eutan was a worthy representative. Other heads of 
families who established themselves along the banks of 
the Delaware were : Daniel Eouette (prior to 1683) ; 
Jean du Bois (prior to 1694) ; Elie Naudin in 1698, a 
native of La Tremblade ; John Gruwell, with his sons 
John and Jacob ; the brothers, Daniel, James and Will- 
iam Voshell, who were probably related to Augnstiue and 
Peter Voshell who came to New York in 1700 ; Dr. des 
Jardiues (prior to 1683), who came as a naturalized 
Englishman ; Jacob Casho ; Laurens Eochia, who fled 
first to L-eland ; and Eichard Saye, of Nismes, who came 
in 1686. Other names appear before the end of the 
seventeenth century, many of them given distinction by 
the upright and honourable lives of their bearers, as fol- 
lows : Philipe Chevalier, Henri Clerq, Albert Blocq, 
Math, de Eing, Mosis de Gau, Hubert Laurans, Paul 
Mincq, Jean Savoy, Bellevill, Gammon, Bassett, Cazier, 
Deto, La Pierre, La Farge, Le Compte (La Count), Larus, 
Sees, Setton, Janvier, Du Chesney (Dushane), Vigoure, 
Tunnell, Le Croix, and Hueling (Huling). 

II 
The Ferree family was descended from an old and noble The Ferree 
family of Normandy, and at the time of the Eevocation ^^'"''y 
of the Edict, Daniel, one of the best representatives of the 
family, was a silk manufacturer of wealth and influential 
position. Owing to his prominence and the staunchness 
he had displayed in clinging to his faith, he was marked 
by the dragoons for the bitterest persecutions. To save 
his wife, Mary, and his six children from the abuse and Daniei-s 
insults of the troopers, he managed to convey them secretly '^ 
to Strasboui'g, where they were in comparative safety. 
Eemaining here for some time, the Ferrees moved to 
Bittingheim in the Palatinate. Here Daniel Ferree died. 
The leadership now developed upon Mary Ferree, and Mary 
the difficulties of her position cannot be well over-esti- nVroTsm 
mated ; an exile from her native laud, living amongst a 



294 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

strange people, and with but scant means witli which to 
provide for her family, the future must, indeed, have 
looked black to her. But she proved to be the stuff of 
which heroines are made, and surmounting every obstacle, 
managed to keep her little flock together. As time passed 
on, and her children grew to maturity, she developed the 
plan of seeking out a home in the new world where her 
girls and boys would have a better chance in the world 
Seeks America t]jaij -^^s ofifercd by Germany, already overcrowded with 
Children rcfugces, aud far from secure from the inroads of the 

Papal troops. Her eldest daughter, Catherine, had mar- 
ried a young refugee by the name of Isaac le Fevre, and 
he, together with the wife of Madame Ferree's oldest son, 
Daniel, joined the little band which left the Palatinate in 
1708. 
Their Church The church letter which Daniel received was as 

Letter „ ,, 

follows : 

Certificate for Daniel Firre and his family. 

WE, the Pastors, Elders aud Deacous of the Reformed Walloon 
Church of Pelican, in the Lower Palatinate, having been requested 
by the Honourable Daniel Firre, his wife, Anne Maria Leininger, and 
their children, Andrew and John Firre, to grant them a testimonial of 
their life and religion, do certify and attest that they have always 
made profession of the pure Reformed religion, frequented our sacred 
assemblies, and have partaken of the supper of the Lord with the other 
members of the faith, in addition to which they have always con- 
ducted themselves uprightly without having given cause for scandal 
that has come to our knowledge. Being now on their departure to 
settle elsewhere we commend them to the protection of God and to the 
kindness of all our brethren in the Lord Christ. In witness whereof 
we have signed this present testimonial with our signature aud usual 
marks. Done at Pelican, in our Consistory, the 10th of May, 1708. 
Michael Messakop, J. Roman, Pastor, 

Peter Schaelet, James Baillkaux, Deacon, 

John Baptiste Leplace, Deacon. 

The civil passport which Madame Ferree obtained is 
not without interest as a historical document, and a 
translation of it is as foUows : 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE 295 

WHEREAS, Maria, Daniel Fuehre's widow, and her son, Daniel 
Ferie, with his wife and six children, in view of improving their condi- 
tion and in furtherance of their prosperity, purpose to emigrate from 
Steinweiler, in the Mayorality of Bittiugheim, High Bailiwick Ger- 
mersheim, via Holland and England, to the island of Pennsylvania, to 
reside there. They have requested an accredited certificate that they 
have left the town of Steinweiler with the knowledge of the proper 
authorities, and have deported themselves, and without cause for cen- 
sure, and are indebted to no one, and not subject to vassalage, being 
duly solicited it has been thought proper to grant their petition, de- 
claring that the above named persons are not moving away clandes- 
tinely. 

That during the time their father, the widow and children resided 
in this place they behaved themselves so piously and honestly that it 
would have been highly gratifying to us to see them remain among us ; commenda- 
that they are not subject to bodily bondage, the Mayorality not being t'°ns 
subject to vassalage. They have also paid for their permission to emi- 
grate. Mr. Fisher, the Mayor of Steinweiler, being expressly inter- 
rogated, it has been ascertained that thej"^ are not liable for any debts. 
In witness whereof I have, in the absence of the Counsellor of the Pa- 
latinate, etc., signed these presents, and given the same to the persona 
who intend to emigrate. 

J. P. Dietrich, Court Clerk. 

Dated Bitiingheim, 3Iarch 10, 1708. 

Armed with these documents the party made its way to 
England to complete its arrangements for settling in 
America. Madame Ferree sought and obtained an inter- 
view with William Peun, to whom she told the story of 
her misfortunes and her desires for the future. Penn was interview 
deeply interested by her recital and agreed to give her a wm. Penn 
tract of land in Pennsylvania. The day following her 
visit he took her to see Queen Anne, and that generous ^id from 
sovereign also became interested in the courageous woman Q"een Anne 
and promised her '' substantial aid, which she in due time 
rendered." 

After a six months' residence in London the Ferrees and 
Le Fevre joined a baud of Huguenot and Palatine ref- LeFevre 
ugees who were about to set out for America under the ""''"" *^ 
leadership of the Rev. Joshua Kocherthal. Arriving in 



296 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



1 719 



3.000 Acres 
Tract 



Peaceful 

Death 

X716 



Numerous 
Descendants 



Soldiers and 
Patriots 



General 
Reynolds 



New York, the party continued on up the Hudson to 
Esopus, where their relatives, Michail Ferree and Andreas 
Lefevre, had already settled. Here they remained for four 
years, until, in 1712, it became feasible for them to re- 
move to Pennsylvania and settle upon the lands which 
had been granted to them in the valley of the Pequea. 
The tract which came into their possession contained two 
thousand acres, in consideration for which they paid over 
to Penn's commissioners the sum of one hundred and fifty 
pounds. 

In 1716, four years after her arrival in Pennsylvania, 
Madame Ferree found a peaceful grave near the home 
which she had established for her children. It is pleas- 
ant to know that the last years of this brave woman were 
in marked contrast to the stormy years of her flight from 
France and her struggles in Germany, and that she died 
happy in the knowledge that her children were on the 
high-road to prosperity in a land where freedom of con- 
science was the birthright of all her sons. Her descend- 
ants prospered and multiplied until to-day they are to be 
numbered by the thousand. In every walk of life they 
have earned distinction and have proved an honour to 
their Huguenot ancestry. It will be possible to mention • 
but a few of them in this book, for a full list would oc- 
cupy pages. 

In the Revolutionary struggle the family took an im- 
portant part. Besides a great number of privates and 
non-commissioned officers, the Ferrees gave to the cause 
such brave soldiers as Colonel John Ferree, of the Tenth 
Pennsylvania Rifles, Colonel Joel Ferree, Major Michael 
Ferree and Major George Lefever. Prominent among the 
■ members of the family who took part in the war of 1812 
were Colonel Joel Ferree (a cousin of the Revolutionary 
colonel of that name) and Colonel Daniel Lefevre. In 
the Civil "War the most distinguished representative of 
the family was Major-General John F. Reynolds. His 
grandmother on the paternal side was Catherine Ferree Le 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWAEE 297 

Fevre, who was a direct descendant from Madame Ferree. 
General Reynolds' record is too well known to require 
repetition here ; certainly no more gallant soldier was 
developed during the war than the commander of the 
First Army Corps who died so nobly at the battle of 
Gettysburg. His brother, William Reynolds, who died a Rear Admiral 
Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, was also a dis- ^^°° 
tiuguished member of the family and helped carry on the 
family traditions by his service in the Mexican and Civil 
Wars. The Schreiver family of Maryland is another 
branch of Madame Ferree' s descendants which has made 
an honourable record for itself, tracing its descent from 
Rebecca Ferree. Abraham Schreiver (1771-1848) earned 
an enviable reputation as a judge of great legal ability 
and uprightness. A very distinguished descendant of Admiral 
this branch is Admiral Winfield Scott Schley, who earned ^"^^^'^^ 
lasting glory at Santiago. Admiral Schley is descended 
from Mary Schreiver, daughter of David and Rebecca 
(Ferree) Schreiver, who married John Schley, the ad- 
miral's grandfather. How much of his success as a fighter 
Admiral Schley owes to the strain of martial Huguenot 
blood in his veins it is, of course, impossible to say ; but 
when we look at the records of the Ferree -Lefever de- 
scendants in camp and field, we may feel sure that his debt 
is no inconsiderable one. 

ni 

Three Huguenots were among the first residents of 
Philadelphia — Jean de La Vail, Edmund Du Castle, and Early in 
Andrew Doz. Doz, who was a refugee in London at the ***'^ eiphia 
time of Penn's purchase, came over with Penn to inves- 
tigate the advisability of planting vineyards. In 1690 
he was rewarded for his services by a grant of two 
hundred acres of land, which included the vineyards al- 
ready laid out along the banks of the Schuylkill River. 
Settling upon this grant, he prospered, found himself a d^^ ^^ 
wife and established a worthy family. His grandson, 



298 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



A Leader 

Among the 
Masons 



Daniel 
Roberdeau 



likewise named Andrew, became widely known as a 
thoroughly public -spirited citizen and gave away large 
sums of money for those days, to numerous charitable 
and philanthropic institutions of the city. Other Hugue- 
nots who were citizens of Philadelphia at a very early 
date were Samuel Robinett, Gabriel Rappe, and Nicholas 
Reboteau, of the Isle of Rhe, and Andrew of Nismes. 

In 1684 Andros Souplis and his wife came to Philadel- 
phia. He had been an officer in the French army, was a 
very brilliant young man, and soon became a great 
favourite with Penn. He left behind him one sou, 
Andrew, who changed the name to its present form of 
Suplee. 

Isaac Roberdeau, with his wife Mary Cunyngham, a 
descendant of the Earl of Glencairn, fled to Philadelphia 
from St. Christopher at an early date. His son, Daniel, 
became one of the leading merchants and first citizens of 
Philadelphia. By the year 1756 he had become one of 
the managers of the Pennsylvania hospital, and was a 
leader among the early Masons, being closely associated 
with Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and 
others. During the years 1756-60 he was a member of 
the Pennsylvania assembly, and five years later he was 
made an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He was an 
ardent patriot and gave himself unsparingly to the cause 
of independence. In 1775 he served as a colonel of 
Peunsj^lvania troops. In 1776 he presided over a public 
meeting in Philadelphia which wielded a large influence 
in favour of the Declaration of Independence. Shortly 
afterwards he fitted out a couple of privateers, and when 
one of these vessels captured a rich prize with $22,000 in 
silver aboard, he promptly placed the money at the dis- 
posal of Congress. On July 4, 1776, while he was a 
member of the council of safety, he was chosen as first 
brigadier-general of the Pennsylvania troops. Later he 
was elected as delegate to the Continental Congress. In 
1778 there was a scarcity of lead in the American army, 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE 299 

and General Roberdeau, securing a leave of absence from 
the Congress, with his private fortune established a fort An Ardent 
in Bedford County as protection against the Indians and 
worked a lead mine there. At the close of the war he 
retired from business as well as from public life, and 
settled down in Alexandria, Virginia, where he was fre- 
quently in the habit of entertaining General Washington. 
He died in 1795. 

His son, Isaac, grandson of the emigrant of that name, 
early showed a love for engineering and received the best 
kind of technical education which the times afforded. 
In 1791 he acted as assistant engineer in laying out the 
city of Washington, and later was engaged in canal con- 
struction in Pennsylvania. In 1813 he was appointed 
topographical engineer in the regular army, with the 
rank of major. In this capacity he had charge of the 
survey which laid out the boundary line between Canada 
and the United States under the treaty of Ghent. He 
organized the bureau of topographical engineers in the 
War Department, in 1818, and remained as its chief until 
his death in 1829. 

Among the records of Christ Episcopal Church, of Christ 
Philadelphia, occur the following names of Huguenot Records 
parents ( first entries alone being given ) : Le Tort, 
James, 1709 ; Le Boyteau, William, 1711 ; Voyer, Peter, 
1713 ; Tripeo, Frederick, 1713 ; Chevalier, Peter, 1712 ; 
Garrigues, Francis, 1721 ; Durell, Moses, 1731 ; Fleury, 
Peter, 1731 ; Le Dru, Noel, 1732 ; Pinnard, Joseph, 1733 ; 
Renardet, James, 1733 ; Doz, Andrew ; Duche, Jacob, 
1734 ; Boyer, James, 1734 ; Bounett, John, 1736 ; Gar- 
rigues, Peter, 1736 ; Doutell, Michael, 1737 ; Hodnett, 
John, 1737 ; Boudinot, Elias, 1738 ; Brund, John, 1738 ; 
Purdieu, Guilliam, 1738 ; La Rue, John, 1739 ; Le 
Shemile, Peter, 1741 ; Le Gay, Jacob, 1744 ; Votaw, Paul 
Isaac, 1747 ; Dupeen, Daniel, 1747 ; de Prefontain, Peter, 
1754 ; Vidal, Stephen, 1754 ; Couche, Daniel, 1756 ; 
Paca, John, 1758 ; Le Dieu, Lewis, 1758 ; Lacallas, 



300 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



James, 1759; Hillegas, Michael, 1760. Among these 
names are many which are held in respect to-day; 
two especially being worthy of notice— Boudinot and 
Hillegas. 




CHAPTER II 
ELIAS BOUDINOT AKD STEPHEN GIRARD 



I 



N 1686, Elias Boudiuot, of La Tremblade, came to Eiias 
New York. His sou, Elias, Jr., left New York some lese 



time prior to 1 735 and established himself in Phila- 
delphia. There his son Elias ( third of the name ) was 
born in 1740. The boy received a good classical educa- 
tion, and when the usual course of Latin and Greek was His Abie 
completed he set himself to study law under the guidance f^^ Ehas.jr., 
of the famous Richard Stockton. He was an apt scholar 
and soon achieved an enviable reputation at the bar. 
At the opening of the wai', though still a young man, he 
was recognized as easily among the most eminent lawyers 
which the colonies had produced. He began his public 
career as commissary-general of prisoners, in 1777, and 
the year following was elected to the Continental Con- 
gress. Here his abilities were brought into full play and 
he soon became one of the most powerful leaders of that 
body. Four years after his first election to Congress he Member of 
was chosen as its president, and in that capacity he signed ^""^"^^^^ 
the treaty of peace with England. He then wished to President 
take up his law practice again, and succeeded for a short 
while. But he had proved himself too valuable a public 
servant for his constituents to allow him to remain in 
private life, and when the constitution was adopted he 
was elected successively to the first, second and third 
congresses. In 1795 Washington appointed him Director 
of the Mint at Philadelphia. He held this position until 
1805, when he resigned and retired to Burlington, New 
Jersey, in order to devote his attention to study and Director of the 
philanthropic work. He was for many years a trustee 

301 



302 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Philan- 
thropist 



Student and 
Author 



Benefactor 



of Princeton College, and in 1805 presented that institu- 
tion with a valuable collection of specimens in natiu^al 
history. He was greatly interested in philanthropic 
work of a religious nature. He served on the American 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and was 
generous in his contributions to that cause. He was also 
one of the founders of the American Bible Society, be- 
coming its first president in 1816. Other lines of phil- 
anthropic endeavour in which he was actively engaged 
were the education of deaf mutes, the training of young 
men for the ministry, and the relief of the poor. While 
thus busily engaged in promoting the welfare of his fel- 
lows, he found time to undertake many arduous studies 
in biblical literature, and published a number of 
volumes on religious subjects — the most famous of these 
being a reply to Tom Paine. He died in 1821, full of 
years and good deeds. In his will he gave 13,000 acres 
of land to the city of Philadelphia in order that the poor 
might be able to buy wood at a small price ; 3, 000 acres 
to the Pennsylvania hospital, etc. Among the other be- 
quests was the rather odd one of a fund with which to 
buy spectacles for the aged poor. 

No short sketch of his life can do justice to Elias 
Boudinot. To appreciate his real significance as an 
actor in the drama which took place at the founding of 
the Republic, it is necessary to read the history of his 
times. As lawyer, statesman, patriot, scholar and phil- 
anthropist, he was one of the most remarkable men of 
the Revolutionary period. 



Story of 
Stephen 
Cirard 



II 

One of the most interesting characters that France has 
contributed to America is Stephen Girard, founder of 
Girard College in Philadelphia. He represented the ac- 
cumulative and thrifty spirit of his race. From a penni- 
less runaway he rose to be merchant, banker, multi-million- 
aire, the richest man of his day in America, and at the 



ELIAS BOUDINOT AND STEPHEN GIRAED 303 

end a philanthropist and benefactor. He was one of the 
most eccentric of men ; and his homely chaise, drawn by 
a sleepy looking farm horse, was for years to be seen 
every day except Sunday at about the same hour, making 
its way slowly along the main business street of his 
adopted city. This description of him is given by a 
recent writer : ^ " His low, square, sturdy frame was in- 
variably clad in a faded coat of an ancient and foreign 
pattern. His slouch hat half concealed a cold and melan- 
choly face marked with deep lines of thought and care. 
His small, bright eye looked hard and cunning, and his 
firm, determined mouth and square jaw indicated the 
indomitable will that lay beneath the uncouth exterior." 

He was born near Bordeaux, in France, May 24, 1750, Bom 1750 
of seafaring parents. His childhood was unhappy, and 
at foui'teen he ran away from home, shipping as cabin- 
boy on a trading vessel bound for the West Indies. Dur- 
ing his voyages he read carefully every book he could 
get hold of, and gained a large fund of information. Of seif-Made 
a keen mind, he studied thoroughly the commercial con- 
ditions and operations of the countries he visited. By 
and by he rose to the command of a ship, and presently 
became ship owner, purchasing vessel after vessel until his 
fleet was famous the world around. He made Philadel- Philadelphia 
phia his headquarters in 1777, and became engaged in '''^^ 
numerous enterprises. His marriage to a Philadelphia 
shipbuilder's daughter was unhappy, his wife becoming 
insane and spending twenty-five years in an asylum be- 
fore death relieved her. This blasting of his domestic 
happiness, together with his boyhood miseries, embittered 
him, and led him to assume a harsh and cynical exterior 
foreign to his real nature. 

He bent all his energies to the accumulation of wealth, 
and came to be regarded as a miser. The truth would Miser- 
seem to be, however, that all this time he had the fixed thropist 
purpose of founding an institution that should through 
1 W. H. Kirkbride. 



304 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Eccentric 
but Just 



Respect for 
True Piety 



A Quaker's 
Method of 
Getting a 
Subscription 



generations feed, clothe and educate the humble and 
homeless. Rich as he was, his tastes were of the sim- 
plest. Indeed, he lived in obscurity, in a small house on 
an unattractive side street, and it is said his personal ex- 
penses were not so great as those of his clerks. His 
breakfast and supper usually consisted of biscuits and 
milk, while for dinner he occasionally allowed himself a 
little meat. 

His eccentricities were many, and the stories told of 
him well illustrate this side of his character. We give 
two or three which are thoroughly characteristic. He 
was not in the habit of giving promiscuously, and 
seldom, if ever, gave to beggars. A very poor man once 
knocked at his door, begging for bread to save his wife 
and children from starvation, Girard drove him roughly 
away, but secretly followed him home, and, finding that 
he had spoken the truth, ordered the baker to leave four 
loaves a day at the house until the man procured work 
enough to support his family. 

He had the greatest contempt for any one who professed 
religion and did not practice it, but respected the man of 
religion who was honest and straightforward in his deal- 
ings. One of the few men that he trusted implicitly 
was a Mr. Inglis, an expert accountant, and a man of 
sincere religious opinions. Recognizing his value and 
his honesty, Girard offered him the position of cashier in 
his bank, which was refused. "You and I serve differ- 
ent masters, Mr. Girard, and could never agree." His 
views were respected and nothing farther was said on the 
subject. 

To get a subscription from Stephen Girard was not an 
easy matter. It required tact and the right introduction 
and many failed while a few succeeded. It is told that 
Samuel Coates, a genial Quaker, was one of the few men 
who knew how to approach the eccentric millionaire. 
He was a manager of the Pennsylvania Hospital, and 
called on Girard for the purpose of raising money for the 



ELIAS BOUDINOT AND STEPHEN GIRAED 305 

support of that institution. "Well, how much do 
you want, Coates?" asked Girard in his usual brusque 
tones. "Just what thee pleases to give, Stephen," 
quietly replied the Quaker. Girard wrote out a check 
for $2,000, and, handing it to Mr. Coates, was sur- 
prised to see that gentleman pocket it without looking 
at the amount. "What! you don't look to see how 
much I give you ? " cried Girard incredulously. "Beg- 
gars must not be choosers, Stephen," replied the 
Quaker. 

" Give me back my check and I will change it," said 
Girard after a moment's pause. 

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, thee 
knows, Stephen," mildly replied the Quaker. Without 
another word Girard sat down and wrote him out a second 
check for $5,000. 

His farm on the outskirts of Philadelphia was one of Detecting 
the best in the country, and while living in town he often * ^'^ 
drove out before breakfast to see that all was going well. 
He was very exacting with his hired hands, and never 
trusted the management of his farm to any one else, but 
ran it himself, as he did all his affairs. Arriving one 
morning a little earlier than usual he was greatly annoyed 
at not finding his man at work on a fence that he was 
building. The man's wife, noticing Girard approaching 
the house, hurriedly awoke her husband and sent him to 
his duties by way of the back door. After visiting the 
house Girard returned to the fence, and seeing the man at 
his post reprimanded him for being late. "I'd been 
here, sir, but went back for a spade," said the workman. 
"You lie! I went and put my hand in yom- bed and 
found it warm," replied Girard, and he discharged the 
man on the spot. 

Not only did he personally supervise the affairs of his working with 
farm, but also prided himself on performing much of the 
manual labour. He frequently killed as many as fifty 
steers with the assistance of one hired man, and in 



306 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Financial 
Mainstay 
of the 
Government 



Often 
Misjudged 



Yellow Fever 
Episode 



Founding 
Girard College 



harvest-time would spend twelve hours at a time with the 
pitchfork loading the hay wagon. 

This was the man who at the opening of the War of 
1812 bought out the old Bank of the United States, and 
during the war was the financial mainstay of the govern- 
ment. In 1814 when the government called for a loan of 
$5,000,000 the subscriptions amounted to only $20,000. 
The credit of the country was at its lowest ebb ; but 
Girard had faith in the nation and saved the day by 
coming out from behind the ramparts of his bank and 
advancing the entire sum. He did not stickle about the 
interest ; he had faith, and he could wait for that, he 
said. 

In childhood Girard had sustained an accident which 
blinded one of his eyes and gave a distorted twist to his 
features. The bitterness attendant upon this was prob- 
ably the cause in part of his shyness and unsocial habits. 
Many of his contemporaries thought him harsh and re- 
clusive, but this opinion undoubtedly arose from his man- 
ner rather than from any lack of kindness and humanity 
in Girard' s heart, for the open record of his life is suffi- 
cient evidence of his altruistic nature. During the 
epidemic of yellow fever which swept over Philadelphia in 
1793, he was instrumental in organizing a hospital for the 
jDlague-stricken people and gave largely to it. And when 
no one could be hired to take charge of it, Girard him- 
self, although his business interests suffered greatly from 
his absence, went to the hospital and for sixty days 
laboured with might and main to establish order and 
cleanliness. 

During his life he gave thousands of dollars to the city 
of Philadelphia for public improvements and was a 
liberal contributor to many churches and various chari- 
ties. At his death he left about nine million dollars to 
philanthropic enterprises, his principal bequest being the 
orphanage known as Girard College. This unique insti- 
tution receives orphans between the ages of six and ten 



ELIAS BOUDINOT AND STEPHEN GIEAED 307 

years, inclusive, educates them under excellent masters, 
trains them for mechanical, agricultural or commercial 
pursuits, and at the end of eight years gives them a fur- 
ther start in life by finding them suitable positions in 
their chosen trades. Thus thousands of poor boys have 
been cared for and reared into useful, upright men ; and 
many generations of well -trained and worthy citizens 
have reason to rise up and call Stephen Girard blessed. 
The college has had a remarkable success. Financially 9""®/* 

*= '' Endowment 

the estate increased in value until it is estimated at 
thirty-eight millions and the annual expenditures of the 
college are over half a million, as against forty-seven 
thousand dollars at the beginning. Fifteen millions have 
been spent upon the maintenance and enlargement of the 
institution, which has an enrollment of 1,550. A prefer- 
ence is given to orphan boys from Philadelphia, secondly, 
to those born elsewhere in Pennsylvania, thirdly, to those 
born in New York city, and lastly, to those born in New 
Orleans — these last two being the first cities he visited 
after reaching America. 

The will provided strictly that no sectarian teaching won- 
should ever be allowed m the college, but said : "My Prov^s\on 
desire is that all instructors and teachers in the college 
shall take pains to instill into the minds of the scholars the 
purest principles of morality, so that, on their entrance 
into active life, they may, from inclination and habit, 
evince benevolence towards their fellow creatures, and a 
love of truth, sobriety and industry, adopting at the same 
time such religious tenets as their matured reason may Pure Morality 
enable them to prefer." 

This French- American, who wished to spare other boys 
the sorrows of his own early life, not only has the credit 
of founding a distinctive institution of noble aim, but of 
being a pioneer in great gifts by rich men for educational a Nobie 
and philanthropic purposes. His was the first large an°d"ETampie 
benefaction of its kind in the country ] and in Girard 
College he reared both a monument and an example. 



The American 
Bayards 



Nicholas 



Delaware 
Branch 



John Bayard 



CHAPTER III 

THE BAYARDS AND OTHER FAMILIES 

I 



Ti 



iRADITION traces the Bayard family back to 
that great French Knight who was dubbed " sans 
peur et sans reproche " (without fear and with- 
out reproach). The history of the American Bayards 
properly begins with Nicholas Bayard, a Huguenot min- 
ister who fled into Holland after the massacre of St. Bar- 
tholomew and settled in Amsterdam. His daughter, 
Judith, married Peter Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch 
governors of New Amsterdam, and one of his sons mar- 
ried Stuyvesant' s sister. From this alliance sprang 
Nicolas, Balthazar, and Peter Bayard, the founders of the 
American branches of the family. 

Nicholas and Balthazar became prominent citizens of 
New York, while Peter, offending his aristocratic breth- 
ren by joining the Labadists, went to Bohemia Manor and 
established the Delaware branch. No American family 
has a more honourable record than the Delaware Bayards, 
who for generation after generation have been zealous for 
the public welfare, as the following brief sketch of some 
of its members will show. 

Colonel John Bayard, born in Bohemia Manor, Md., in 
1738, was the great-grandson of Peter Bayard. When he 
was eighteen years old he went up to Philadelphia and 
there commenced his commercial career. He was very 
successful in business, and in the course of a few years was 
reckoned among the leading merchants of that flourishing 
city. He was a patriot through and through, and as he 
was a man of strong character he soon became a vital 

308 



THE BAYAEDS AND OTHER FAMILIES 309 

force in the growing resentment against British oppres- 
sion and the movement for independence. He was one of sons of 
the first to join the famous organization known as the 
Sons of Liberty, and in spite of the injury to his busi- 
ness which it entailed, he was one of the first merchants to 
sign the non-importation agreement of October, 1765. In 
1774 he was elected to the Provincial Congress ; two years 
later he became a member of the Council of Safety. Dur- 
ing the campaign of 1776-7 he was in the field at the head 
of a Pennsylvania regiment. So brave a soldier was he 
that after the battle of Princeton Washington compli- Gaiiant 

.-.,-• 1 ■ n . . , Soldier 

mented him m person upon his gallantry in that action. 
The year following he again took up his legislative duties, 
serving as speaker of the Pennsylvania house of assem- 
bly. In 1781 he was appointed to the supreme executive 
council, and in 1785 completed his public services by 
representing his state in the Continental Congress. He 
deserved to be remembered, in the phrase of Bancroft, as 
''a patriot of singular purity of character." 

Samuel Bayard, born in Philadelphia in 1767, was the samuei 
fourth son of Colonel John Bayard. He graduated from ^^^^ 
Princeton with the class of 1781, studied law and com- 
menced his practice in Philadelphia. In 1791 he was 
made clerk of the United States Supreme Court, but left 
that position in 1794 to become the agent of the govern- 
ment in prosecuting the claims before the British Court of 
Admiralty. On his return from Loudon he settled in 
New York and commanded a large and lucrative practice. 
While living in New York he became instrumental in Founder of 
founding the New York Historical Society. In 1806 he Hf^orkai 
purchased a beautiful estate in Princeton, New Jersey, ^""^'^^^ 
becoming a country squire and philanthropist. He at- 
tended session after session of the state legislature, and for 
many years was the presiding judge of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas of Somerest County. Among other things, he 
was associated with Elias Boudinot in forming the Ameri- 
can Bible Society, and was one of the founders and patrons 



310 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



James 

Asheton 

Bayard 



Federalist 
Leader 



Great Senators 



of the Theological Seminary at Princeton. He died in 
1840. 

James Asheton Bayard, son of Dr. James Asheton 
Bayard, and nephew of Colonel John Bayard, was born 
in Philadelphia in 1767. He graduated from Princeton 
in 1784 in the same class with his cousin Samuel. Three 
years later he was admitted to the bar and located in 
Wilmington, Del. His ability as a lawyer was soon 
recognized, and at the time he was elected to Congress, in 
1796, he was already among the most prominent men in 
the profession. A year after his election to Congress he 
achieved a national reputation by his management of the 
impeachment of William Blount. His power as an orator 
and his wide knowledge of constitutional law soon brought 
him to the fore in Congress, and he rapidly developed 
into a leader of the Federalist party. In 1801, when the 
choice lay between Burr and Jefferson, Bayard was influ- 
ential, together with Hamilton, in swinging the scales in 
favour of Jefferson. That same year he declined an ap- 
pointment as Minister to France. From 1804 to 1813 he 
represented Delaware in the United States Senate. Pres- 
ident Madison selected Bayard as a joint commissioner 
to act with Albert Gallatin, John Adams and Henry Clay 
in arranging terms of peace with Great Britain in 1814, 
and he was prominent in the negotiations which brought 
about the treaty of Ghent. While in Europe he con- 
tracted a serious illness, and returned to his home in 
Wilmington only to die early in the following year. 

Richard Henry Bayard, his eldest son, was born in 
Wilmington in 1796, graduated from Princeton in 1814, 
and then devoted himself to the law. He was a brilliant 
lawyer, and in 1836 was made United States Senator from 
Delaware. 

His youngest brother, James Asheton, was born in 
1779. He, too, became a lawyer, and won high distinc- 
tion at the bar. He was federal attorney for Delaware 
during the administration of President Van Buren, and 



THE BAYARDS AND OTHEE FAMILIES 311 

in 1851 he became a Senator from that state, continuing 
until 1869. He was for a long time chairman of the com- 
mittee on the judiciary, and was generally esteemed for 
the high sense of public honour which he evinced on 
numerous occasions. 

His son, Thomas Francis Bayard, was born in Wil- 
mington in 1828. He was admitted to the bar in 1851 Last of a 
and practised law until he was elected to succeed his 
father in the Senate in 1868. He served as Senator until 
1885, when he became Secretary of State. In 1893 he 
was appointed Ambassador to Great Britain. 

II 
The Duch6 family is descended from Jacques Duche, a The Duche 
native of La JRochelle, who was naturalized in England ^^"''^ 
in 1682 with his wife, Mary, and two sons, Arnold and 
Anthony. Anthony came to Staten Island at an early 
date and removed to Philadelphia a few years prior to 
1700. His son Jacob, born in Philadelphia in 1708, was 
the father of the Reverend Jacob Duche, a noted clergy- 
man of his day. He was born at Philadelphia in 1737, 
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania when he 
was twenty years old, and then went to Cambridge, Eng- 
land, to pursue his studies further. In 1759 the Bishop 
of London licensed him to preach in the Philadelphia 
churches, and that same year he returned to this country. 
He was a very popular preacher and by 1775 had become 
rector of Christ Church, the leading Episcopal congrega- Jacob 
tion of Philadelphia at the time. He has come down to Patriot 
us in history as the minister who delivered the prayer at 
the opening of the first Continental Congress — a prayer so 
patriotic and reverent withal that the assembled patriots 
gave him a vote of thanks. In 1776 he was chosen chap- 
lain of Congress. He died in 1798. 

Ill 
The Du Pont family, long known as the great powder p^^J^y ^°"* 



312 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

manufacturers of the country, are descended from an old 
Huguenot family of Rouen in France. Du Pont de Ne- 
mours was the founder of the family. His story has been 
written by G. Schelle, and published by Gillaumin in 
Paris. A writer in the Magazine of American History^ for 
March, 1889, reviews the Memoir. The Du Pont works 
at Wilmington, Delaware, and their branches and busi- 
nesses in other places, have given them a commercial 
reputation hardly equalled in any other calling. During 
the long period from the beginning of the last century to 
our own time many members of the Du Pont family have 
gained distinction by their services in the army and navy. 
They were represented in the War of 1812, and in the 
Civil War Admiral Du Pont and Colonel Henry Du Pont 
were both men of mark. 
Du Pont de Du Pout dc NcmouTS was born in Paris in 1739. He 

Publicist' was precocious, noted at his twelfth year for his knowl- 
edge, and at twenty submitted to Choiseul a plan for en- 
couraging agriculture, establishing domestic free trade, 
suppressing taxes, and remodelling the financial system of 
France. He was soon recognized as one of the most 
brilliant and able publicists and economists of France. 
He was the most chivalric champion of liberty in France, 
according to Madame de Stael, and successively urged 
the abolition of slavery, the repeal of the game laws, 
liberty of the press, relief from the laws controlling 
labour, reform in public charity, the repeal of monopolies, 
and other public oppressions and abuses. Benjamin 
Franklin especially commended his economic tables. If 
France had heeded him, the French Revolution would 
not have been necessary. He was too much of a reformer 
to be acceptable to a corrupt court, and during the stress 
of the Revolution, his life being in peril, he escaped to 
America, where his eldest son had established himself. 
Jefferson, who had known him in France, heartily wel- 
comed him to the United States. He laboured to effect 
Jefferson's purpose of securing Louisiana by purchase 



THE BAYAEDS AND OTHER FAMILIES 313 

from Napoleon, having returned to France after the Revo- 
lution. ^Vhen Napoleon returned from Elba, Du Pont 
again took refuge in the United States, and lived with 
his sons near Wilmington until his death in 1817, in his 
seventy -seventh year. 

His second sou, Irenee, was the founder of the powder 
works. He had shared imprisonment with his father, 
and on reaching the United States in 1798 found the great 
need of a domestic supply of good gunpowder. He re- 
turned to France to study its manufacture, came back to 
this country, and from a small beginning built up a busi- 
ness which has become one of the notable industries of 
the country. He died in 1834. 

Admiral Du Pont, one of the distinguished officers of Admiral 
the United States Navy, wiis the son of Victor, older ?f"po°rtV"ya°i 
brother of Irenee, and engaged with him in business. It 
was Admiral Du Pont who was the commander and hero 
of the Port Royal Expedition. This descendant of a 
Huguenot won that unexpected, absolute and decisive 
victory which thrilled the loyal hearts of the country 
with hope and thankfulness, coming as it did when only 
such a victory could counterbalance the alarm caused by 
the defeat at Bull Run. The story of this remarkable 
expedition is told by General Egbert L. Viele in the 
Magazine of American History, October, 1885. Admiral 
Du Pout had to attack with his fleet the great forts 
which guarded the harbour of Port Royal, in order to 
establish a system of blockade that would cripple the 
Confederacy. There were 20,000 soldiers and 5,000 
sailors under the admiral's command, and his fleet con- 
sisted of seventy-seven vessels, including transports. It 
was a motley collection, and storms had to be overcome 
as well as forts ; but the brave and able commander car- 
ried out his plan, won a decisive and crushing victory, 
and matched Farragut's daring strategy at New Orleans. 

"The planning of the bombardment, the manning of a BriiHant 
the ships, and the effective work done by the fleet," says ^^''^^ victory 



314 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

General Viele, ' ' will pass into history as one of the most 
successful achievements of the kind, as it marked an era 
in naval warfare. It was the first time that the powerful 
auxiliary of steam was brought to play such a decided 
part in war operations. . . . Du Pont had planned 
the attack with the utmost precision. Every vessel had 
its designated place. The fleet sailed in the form of an 
ellipse, each ship to deliver its fire at each fort as it iDassed 
abreast. Three times this circle of death passed in its 
relentless course. For four hours the terrible duel was 
maintained, and then after a well directed broadside from 
the Wabash, all was over. . . . Such utter destruc- 
tion probably never overtook a fortification." 

In a private letter, dated on board the flagship Wabash, 
Port Royal, November 9, 1861, Admiral Du Pont wrote : 
"During the disheartening events of our passage my 
faith never gave way ; but at some moments it seemed 
appalling (referring to a severe storm that scattered the 
fleet and wrecked a number of vessels). On the other 
hand, I permit no elation at our success. Yet I cannot 
refrain from telling you that it has been more complete 
and brilliant than I ever could have believed. . . . 
I kept under way and made three turns, though I passed 
five times between the forts. I could get none of my big 
frigates up. I believe my plan was clever. I stood 
against the side, and had the management the better in 
consequence. The confidence of the enemy was extreme 
that they could drive us away. They fought bravely, 
and their rifle guns never missed. They aimed at one 
bridge, where they knew they could make a hole if they 
were lucky. A shot in the centre let water into the after 
magazine ; but I saved a hundred lives by keeping under 
way and bearing in close. I never conceived such a flre 
as that of this ship on her second turn, and I am told that 
its effect upon the spectators outside of her was intense. 
I learn that when they saw our flag flying on shore the 
troops were powerless to cheer, but wept." 



THE BAYAEDS AND OTHER FAMILIES 315 

On the recei3tion of the official dispatches iu Washing- 
ton, the general order was issued by Secretary Gideon 
Wells, ''that to commemorate this signal victory, a 
national salute be fired from each navy yard, at meridian, 
on the day after the reception of this order." 

IV 

John Stephen Benezett was the founder of the family of Benezett 
that name. He was born in Abbeville in 1682, at the 
Revocation was taken to Holland, and from thence to 
England in 1715. He settled in Philadelphia in 1731 and 
became prominent in the affairs of the city, having the 
distinction of being the first city treasurer. He was also First city 
one of the leading members of the Society of Friends, and '^'■^*^""'' 
for some years was a pillar iu the Moravian church. Of 
his three sons, one became a major in the Revolution, 
while Anthony, the youngest, grew into one of the most 
philanthropic citizens of Philadelphia. He advocated 
the emancipation of the slaves and was zealous iu pro- 
moting their education, opening a night school for their 
benefit and showing his sincerity by teaching in it him- 
self. He deserves to rank as the earliest abolitionist who Anthony first 
openly dared to express his views, a pamphlet of his en- Abolitionist 
titled Considerations on the Kee^pinq of Negroes being the 
first anti-slavery work published in America. During 
the Revolution he was active in relieving the sufferings 
of prisoners and wounded, thus being in a way the fore- 
bear of the Red Cross Society. 

V 

Michael Hillegas was the son of a refugee who fled Michael 
to the Palatinate shortly after the Revocation. He was 1728^^*^ 
born in Philadelphia in 1728 and amassed a considerable 
fortune in the sugar refining business. He was an ardent 
patriot and at an early date placed himself and his for- 
tunes at the service of the cause of independence. He 
was made the first treasurer of the United States, and his 



316 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



First United integrity and financial ability made him a ''tower of 
Treasurer strength " during the dreariest and most hopeless days of 

the Revolution. Among the many descendants of the 

Hillegas family may be named the Honourable John 
John Richards Richards, who was a member of Congress in 1796, and for 

many years prominent in legal and political circles in 

Pennsylvania. 

VI 



Settlers in 
Germantown 



Leverings 



De la Plaines 



Huguenots were among the earliest settlers of German- 
town, in the vicinity of Philadelphia. Within three years 
of the date of settlement we find Jean Le Brun, Jean 
Dedier, Wigard and Gerhart Levering mentioned as heads 
of families. The peculiarly German names Gerhart and 
Wigard were due to the fact that the father of the emi- 
grants, Doctor Rosier Levering, a refugee to Grermany, 
married a German lady named Elizabeth Van der Walle, 
both sous being born on German soil. The Leverings 
have been prominent in Pennsylvania for many years. 
Wigard, a man of strong character, was the founder of 
Roxborough. Among Gerhart' s descendants may be 
mentioned the Honourable Joshua Levering and the 
Right Reverend J. Mortimer Levering. 

The descendants of James De la Plaine, son of Nicholas 
De la Plaine, who came to New Amsterdam via Holland 
prior to 1663, are numerous in Pennsylvania and Mary- 
land. James settled in Germantown in 1691, became a 
leader in the Society of Friends, and died in 1750. Be- 
sides James, four daughters of Nicholas De la Plaine 
came to Philadelphia at about the same period ; Eliza- 
beth, wife of Casper Hoodt ; Judith, wife of Thomas 
Griffith ; Susanna, wife of Arnold Cassel ; and Crejanne, 
wife of Ives Belangee, — the last three being married in 
Philadelphia. John and Joseph De la Plaine, grandsons 
of James, and the latter an officer in the Revolution, 
removed to Maryland and established a numerous 
progeny. 



THE BAYAEDS AND OTHER FAMILIES 317 

VII 

The Garrigues family, represented in Philadelphia by g^^id 
William H. and Samuel E. Garrigues, traces its descent Descent 
from the Garric family, of Monpellier, in Languedoc. At 
the Revocation, David Garric fled to England, where the 
name became Garrick ; while another brother took refuge 
in Germany, whence under the modified name of Gar- 
rigues, his descendants established themselves in Phila- 
delphia shortly after 1700. 

Richard De Charms, one of the best known Sweden - 
borgian preachers of the first half of the century, who 
held successful pastorates in Philadelphia, Baltimore and 
New York, was born in Philadelphia in 1796. 

Abram Markos, or Marcou, was a distinguished resi- Abram 
dent of the city prior to and during the Revolution. He 
was born in the Danish West Indies in 1729, and was 
descended from Count Marcou, a native of Montbeliard, 
in French- Comte, who settled in the Antilles and became 
a prosperous planter. Abram came to Philadelphia when 
he was a young man and traded extensively between 
Philadelphia and Santa Cruz, where he was largely in- 
terested in raising sugar. He acquii'ed a considerable 
holding of real estate, one of his plots being the land on 
which the government buildings now stand. In 1774 he 
organized the company of light horse now so famous as 
the ''city troop" of Philadelphia, and became its first 
captain. A year later he i^resented the company with a 
silk flag, the first flag to bear the thirteen stripes sym- 
bolical of the thirteen colonies struggling for freedom. 
As he was a Danish subject, the neutrality proclamations 
of the king of Denmark prevented him fi'om taking an 
active part in the Revolution. 

The Pennsylvania branch of the Chevalier family was The 
founded by Pierre Chevalier, who settled in Philadelphia ^^^^*''^" 
in 1720. His father, of a noble family of Bretagne, fled 
to England, where Pierre was born. Before emigrating 
to this country, Pierre married an English lady. He 



318 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

left two sons, Peter aud John, whose sons became promi- 
nent merchants of the city. His daughters married well, 
and among their descendants may be numbered Judge 
Samuel Breese, of New Jersey, and Professor Edward E. 
Salisbury, of Yale. 

Other Huguenot names which occur among the emi- 
grants to Philadelphia before 1750 are : Montadon, Le 
Colle, Casser, Eemy, Huyett, Eemley, Eansier, Suffrance, 
Bouton, Eena, Du Bois, Le Brant, and Piquart. 



Lancaster 
County 



The Boyers 



Easy 
Assimilation 



VIII 

Lancaster County was a place of refuge for many 
Huguenots. In the days before a permanent settlement 
had been effected, there were several Huguenots in that 
region who were engaged in trading with the Indians. 
Among these was Captain James Letort, who with his 
sons is frequently mentioned as being in the government's 
employ. He afterwards settled in Philadelphia. 

Samuel Boyer was one of the first of the regular settlers 
to arrive, coming in 1710. The Boyer family in France 
is a large and honourable one, and the American Boyers 
are worthy of their heredity. Members are to be found 
throughout Pennsylvania, and mention may be made of 
Honourable Henry Boyer, General Philip Boyer, of the 
War of 1812, Honourable Benjamin M. Boyer, member 
of Congress in 1864, Colonel Zachur Boyer, of the Civil 
"War, and Honourable Henry K. Boyer, Treasurer of the 
State and Director of the United States Mint at Phila- 
delphia. 

As news of the colony spread among the exiles in the 
Palatinate, they came over in large numbers. They did 
not support any separate church organization of their 
own, having united with other churches while in Ger- 
many, but it is recorded that Lewis Boehm, pastor of the 
First Eeformed Church in Lancaster in 1771, used to de- 
liver frequent sermons in French. The following refugees 
were members of this church : Viller, De Gaston, Mel- 



THE BAYAEDS AND OTHEE FAMILIES 319 

chior Boyer, Beauchamp, Fortune, Fortune/, Ferree, 
Fortuuet, La Eou, Eacque, Bennett, Marquet, Eosier, De 
Dieu, Allemaud, Huttier, Berott, Le Fever, Trebert, Le 
Crone, Delancey, Eoller, Le Eoy, Vissard, Maquiunette, 
Vosine, Le Brant, Eaiguel, Du Fresue and Lorali. Hold- 
ing membership in Trinity Lutheran Church, of Lan- 
caster, were Hubele, Morett, Moreau, Mathiot, Santeau, 
De Mars, Dilliers, Cossart and Sponsilier. 

Among the descendants of these emigrants are Dr. pubucMen 
Henry Bernard Mathiot, of Pittsbui*g; Adam Hubele, 
member of the Proviucial Assembly in 1775 and a colonel 
in the Eevolutiou 5 John Hubele, member of the Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1776, of the Committee of 
Safety, etc. ; General Peter Forney, an officer in the Eev- 
olutiou, and member of Congress in 1813 ; the Honourable 
David Marchand, Jr., member of Congress in 1817 ; the 
Honourable Joshua Mathiot, Congressman from Ohio in 
1841 ; Colonel Forney, member of Congress in 1851 and 
an officer in the Civil War ; the Honourable Albert 
Marchand, member of Congress in 1839 ; Commodore 
John Bonnett Marchand, famous for the part he played 
in the naval fight in Mobile Bay ; and General John E. 
Eoller. 

,IX 

Near the present town of Sheridan is still standing a other Parts 
massive stone mansion built by Jean Henri Collier in °^ ^^^ ^^**^ 
1727. The Collier family was scattered to the four winds 
by the Eevocation, representatives being found even in 
Africa, where the descendants of the branch which took 
refuge in Holland are among the prominent citizens of 
Cape Colony — one of them, General Collier, being es- 
pecially noted through his operations in the Boer War. 
In Pennsylvania the name has been corrupted to Zeller. 

To the Universalists the stone house erected in Oley, 
Berks County, by Dr. George De Bonneville in 1745, will Dr. DeBonne- 
always have peculiar interest. For this house, still well 
preserved, is " the undoubted birthplace of Universalism 



320 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Birthplace of 
Universalism 
in America 



Passevant 
Preacher 



Chauvenent 
Mathema- 
tician 



in America. In this edifice De BonneviUe had a large 
room fitted up as a chapel where he was wont to preach 
the doctrine of universal redemption to his friends and 
neighbours who gathered to hear him.'' De Bonneville 
was descended from the Lords of Bonneville, whose an- 
cestral seat was at Limoges. His grandfather was 
Francis De Bonneville, who went to England at the invi- 
tation of William III, and whose sou married a member 
of the famous Granville family. From this marriage 
was born George De Bonneville in 1703. While a young 
man De Bonneville returned to France to preach to his 
Huguenot brethren, was captured and was on the point 
of being beheaded when a reprieve came from the king, 
Queen Anne of England having pleaded in his behalf. 
After his release he preached through Germany and 
Holland and finally emigrated to America in 1741. He 
will always be remembered as one of the prime movers in 
what was, perhaps, the profoundest change which took 
place in religious conceptions during the eighteenth 
century. 

A Pennsylvanian of Huguenot descent who will long be 
remembered by many grateful hearts is Reverend Will- 
iam A. Passevant, of the Lutheran Church. The greater 
part of his life was devoted to philanthropic enterprises. 
He was instrumental in founding hospitals in Pittsburg, 
Milwaukee, Chicago and Jacksonville. He helped es- 
tablish orphanages at Rochester, Pa., and Mt. Vernon, 
N. Y., and was the founder of Thiel College at Green- 
ville, Pa. 

William Chauvenent, the brilliant mathematician, was 
born in Milford in 1820. He was active with Maury, a 
Virginia Huguenot, in bringing about the establishment 
of the United States Naval Academy, and was the leading 
professor there for several years. For his patriotic 
efforts in establishing the academy on its present admirable 
basis, and for his many contributions to the scientific 
literature of the day, he deserves to be remembered. 



THE BAYAEDS AND OTHER FAIHILIES 321 



General James A. Beaver is descended from a Revolu- 
tionary soldier, John George Beaver, who came to Penn- 
sylvania in 1731 in the good ship Pink. General Beaver 
served as Colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth 
Pennsylvania Regiment during the Civil War, and was 
brevetted Brigadier for his services. He has since been 
Governor of Pennsylvania, and at present is a Judge of 
the Superior Court. 



Governor 
Beaver 




THIRD >RENCH CHURCH, MARBLE, AT FRANKLIN AND CHURCH STREETS, NEW YORK 



CHAPTER IV 
SOUTH CAROLINA 



Successful 
Settlement 



French in the 
Front Rank 



Port Royal 
1670 



Liberal 
Charter 



M 



ORE than a centmy after the disastrous failure 
of Admiral Coligny's plans to establish French 
colonies which might become asylums for 
Protestant refugees in America, in the very same Caro- 
lina that was the scene of devastation, demonism, despair 
and death, it came to pass that French settlements were 
established. In no section, moreover, were the French 
settlers more numerous and influential. The story of 
the state cannot be written without them. In the 
colonial days they ranked among the foremost citizens 
in public affiiirs, and in the War of the Revolution they 
stood in the front ranks of the patriots and soldiers. 
One has but to mention the same of Henry Laurens, a 
chief among the men who resented royal tyranny and 
carried the Carolinas into line with Massachusetts in de- 
fense of human liberty ; and in the army the name of 
Marion, one of the most romantic figures as well as ef- 
fective fighters of the Revolution, to prove this. 

Owing to the Spaniards and their hatred of the French, 
and particularly the Protestant French, it was left for 
the English, under direction of William Sayle, the first 
governor, to establish the first permanent settlement in 
South Carolina. This was at or near Port Royal in 1670. 
The charter was especially inviting to emigrants. It 
granted liberty of conscience to every one, and this at a 
time when in England conformity to the Anglican 
Church was pressing hard upon many good men, just as 
in France Roman Catholicism was driving out the Hugue- 
nots. The civil government of this new colony laid only 

322 




MAROT PSALM BOOK OF GABRIEL MANIGAULT 




GABRIEL MAXIGAULT, MERCHANT, 1704-1781 
From Painting by Teremiah Theus, Charleston, 1757 



SOUTH CAROLINA 323 

three coDditions with respect to religion : 1. To believe 
that there is a God ; 2. That He is to be worshipj)ed ; 
and 3. That it is lawful and the duty of every man when 
called upon by those in authority, to bear witness to the 
truth. Without acknowledging this no man was per- 
mitted to be a freeman, or to have any estate or habita- 
tion in Carolina. But persecution for observing different 
modes and ways of worship was expressly forbidden ; 
and every man was to be left full liberty of conscience, 
and might worship God in that manner which he thought 
most conformable to the divine will and revealed word. 
Eamsay, whose history of South Carolina was written 
at the beginning of the last century (published 1808), and a Medley 
who renders due credit to the French, says the early emi- 
grants were a medley of different nations and principles. 
Every year brought new adventurers. From England 
there came both Cavaliers and Puritans, and many a severe 
clash they had. A colony of Dutch settlers came from 
New Amsterdam, after the English had taken it and made 
New York of it, and these newcomers settled Johnstown, 
but subsequently spread themselves o^'er the country. It 1679 
was in 1679, the year before Charleston was founded on its Established 
present site, that the French refugees reached Carolina to 
stay. King Charles II was the direct means of their 
coming. He saw the value of skilled labour to the 
new colonies, and ordered two small vessels to be 
provided at his own expense to transport to Carolina 
a company of the foreign Protestants, who had found ref- 
uge in his realm, who proposed to raise wine, oil, silk, 
and other products of the south. " Though they did not 
succeed in enriching the country with these valuable 
commodities," says the historian, ''their descendants 
form a part of the present inhabitants." 

II 

Then came the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 
fifteen years after the settlement of Carolina, and this be- 



324 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Honoured 
Names 



Elias 
Prioleau 



came a large contributor to the growth and prosperity of 
South Carolina, as of other parts of the world. France's 
inestimable loss was the gain of nations born and as yet 
unborn. To South Carolina were transplanted from 
France the stocks from which have sprung such respect- 
able families, some of them renowned, as Laurens, 
Marion, Manigault, Prioleau, Horry, Huger, Postell, 
Guerard, Benoist, Dubois, Dupre, St. Julien, Chevalier, 
Simons, and a score of others. This group of refugees 
settled at first on the Santee River, and from them that 
part of the country in old maps was called French Santee. 
Their religious leader was Reverend Elias Prioleau, who 
had brought with him a considerable part of his congre- 
gation from France. He was the grandson of Anthoine 
Prioli, who was chosen Doge of Venice in 1618, and was 
a man of unusual parts. 

What these families went through for the sake of their 
religion is indicated in a letter written by Judith Mani- 
gault, wife of Peter Manigault, founders of a family that 
was long well known in the State. This lady, when about 
twenty, embarked in 1685 for Carolina by way of Loudon. 
She subsequently wrote to her brother in France a letter, 
giving some account of her experiences. This is a trans- 
lation of it into English : 



Judith 
Mani 



inigault's 
Letter 



Since you desire it, I will give you an account of our quitting 
France, and of our arrival in Carolina. During eight months, we had 
suffered from the contributions and the quartering of the soldiers, 
with many other inconveniences. We therefore resolved on quitting 
France by night, leaving the soldiers in their beds, and abandoning 
the house with its furniture. We contrived to hide ourselves at Ro- 
mans in Dauphigny, for ten days, while a search was made after us ; 
but our hostess being faithful, did not betray us when questioned if 
she had seen us. From thence we passed to Lyons— from thence to 
Dijon — from which place, as well as from Langres, my eldest brother 
wrote to you ; but I know not if either of the letters reached you. 
He informed you that we were quitting France. He went to Madame 
de Choiseul's, which was of no avail, as she was dead, and her son-in- 
law had the command of everything ; moreover, he gave us to under- 



SOUTH CAROLINA 



325 



stand that be perceived our intention of quitting France, and if we 
asked any favours of him, he would inform against us. We therefore 
made the best of our way for Metz, in Lorraine, where we embarked 
on the river Moselle, in order to go to Treves — from thence we passed 
to Coblentz and Cologne, where we left the Rhine, to go by land to 
Wesel, where we met with an host who spoke a little French, and in- 
formed us we were only thirty leagues from Lunenburg. We knew 
that you were in winter quarters there. Our deceased mother and 
myself earnestly besought ray eldest brother to go that way with us ; 
or, leaving us with her, to pay you a visit alone. It was in the depth 
of winter; but he would not hear of it, having Carolina so much in 
his head that he dreaded losing any opportunity of going thither. Oh, 
what grief the losing so fine an opportunity of seeing you at least once 
more, has caused me ! How have I regretted seeing a brother show so 
little feeling, and how often have I reproached him with it ! But he 
was our master, and we were constrained to do as he pleased. 

We passed on to Holland, to go from thence to England. We re- 
mained in London three months, waiting for a passage to Carolina. 
Having embarked, we were sadly off : the spotted fever made its ap- 
pearance on board our vessel, of which disease many died, and among 
them our aged mother. Nine months elapsed before our arrival in 
Carolina. We touched two ports — one a Portuguese, and the other an 
island called Bermuda, belonging to the English, to refit our vessel, 
which had been much injured in a storm. Our captain having com- 
mitted some misdemeanor, was put in prison, and the vessel seized. 
Our money was all spent, and it was with great difficulty we procured 
a passage in another vessel. After our arrival in Carolina we suffered 
every kind of evil. In about eighteen months our elder brother, un- 
accustomed to the hard labour we had to undergo, died of a fever. 
Since leaving France we had experienced every kind of affliction — 
disease, pestilence, famine, poverty, hard labour. I have been for six 
months together without tasting bread, working the ground like a 
slave; and I have even passed three or four years without always hav- 
ing it when I wanted it. God has done great things for us, in enab- 
ling us to bear up under so many trials. I should never have done, 
were I to attempt to detail to you all our adventures; let itsuflSce that 
God has had compassion on rae, and changed my fate to a more happy 
one, for which glory be unto Him. 



The Spotted 
Fever 



Hardships and 

Sufferings \ 



Such was the faith that could not be overthrown by- 
suffering and hardship. This young woman, left alone in 
the world, found a worthy husband in Peter Manigault. 



326 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



She died iu 1711, seven years after she had given birth to 
A Noble Son Gabriel Manigault, who in a long and useful life ac- 
cumulated a fortune so large that he was able to give a 
loan of £220,000 — a remarkable fortune in those days — 
to the colonial government for carrying on its war for in- 
dependence. This he did at an early period, when there 
was no certainty whether payment would ever be pos- 
sible. Thus he repaid the debt his parents owed to the 
land which had given them asylum and a home. 



Favoured 

Carolina 



1764 
Immigration 



III 

Besides these Huguenots who came direct from France, 
a considerable nimiber of the refugees who came at first 
to New York and New England, after a short residence 
in those colder climates, found their way to Carolina, 
which became a general rendezvous, as originally con- 
templated by their distinguished leader Coliguy shortly 
after the discovery of America. Another and a very 
considerable company of French came from Acadia, 
when, after Nova Scotia had been surrendered to England, 
the Acadians were dispersed among the English colonies, 
as a measure of safety. About fifteen hundred of them 
were sent to Charleston, and some of them rose to wealth 
and distinction, though the larger part of them left the 
country as soon as it was possible to get away. 

In 1764 another colony of Huguenots came from 
France, in charge of Reverend Mr. Gilbert, a popular 
preacher, who prevailed on a number of persecuted fam- 
ilies, after the peace of Paris, to seek a home in South 
Carolina, which was now highly reported of by the 
French residents there. On his solicitations the govern- 
ment of England, which appreciated the quality of the 
French Protestants as settlers, encouraged the project, 
and furnished the means of transportation. Going to 
England, Mr. Gilbert directed the movements of the emi- 
grants, who found it necessary to leave France privately, 
at different times, and in smaU numbers. They rendez- 



SOUTH CAROLIN^A 327 

voused at Plymouth^ England, and sailing from that post, southern 
reached Charleston in April, 1764. They were received °^p'** **y 
with great kindness and hospitality. Vacant lands were 
laid out for their use, grants of land were made to them 
respectively by the Provincial Assembly, and means of 
conveyance to their settlement were provided. They 
named their new settlement New Bordeaux, after the 
capital of the province in France whence most of them 
came. They introduced in earnest the manufacture of 
silk. The historian says of them: "They have been 
distinguished for their industry and good morals. The 
climate has agreed so well with them that they have gen- 
erally enjoyed good health. The manufacture of silk is 
still continued among them." They sent representatives 
to the legislature, were able iu public as well as private 
affairs, and ranked among the first elements in the popu- 
lation. 

Thus in her early days South Carolina proved indeed 
an asylum for those of different nationalities who fled worthy 
from tyranny and persecution. The results to the state ^'*'^^"^ 
were most beneficial ; while as for the colonies at large, 
they owed much to South Carolina for the part she played 
during the Eevolution ; and the brave sons of Carolina 
who engaged most notably in that memorable struggle 
for human rights and liberty were those very French 
Protestant families which had found welcome and shelter 
within her territory. 

There was a certain period in the early days when the French and 
French refugees were a source of controversy between the ^"^iish 
proprietors and the people of English blood. The French 
settlers were orderly, industrious, religious, iu every way 
exemplary citizens. Some of them had brought property 
with them which enabled them to buy land and settle 
with greater advantages than many of the j)Oorer English 
emigrants. They were, moreover, of a more cultivated 
type, which did not make them more agreeable to their 
neighbours. The result was that, while the French were 



328 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

busy clearing and cultivating their lauds, the English 
settlers were reviving national antipathies, and classing 
them as aliens and foreigners, legally entitled to none of 
the privileges and advantages of natural born British 
subjects. The x)roprietors, greatly to their credit, sided 
with the refugees, and instructed their Governor Ludwell 
to allow the French the same privileges and liberties 
with the English colonists. But the people carried their 
jealousy so far that the county in which the French lived 
was not allowed a single representative in the assembly. 
Wise measures served to lessen the friction, and by ex- 
cluding the French from office the disturbers were satis- 
fied. In process of time the national antipathies abated. 
Gradual Union The Frcuch provcd their courage and fidelity, made 
friends by their excellent behaviour, and when they pe- 
titioned the legislature to be incorporated with the freemen 
of the colony, an act was passed in 1696 making all 
aliens then residents free, on petition to the governor and 
taking the oath of allegiance to King William. This 
same law conferred liberty of conscience on all Christians, 
with the exception of Papists. With these conditions the 
refugees, who were all Protestants, joyfully complied ; 
and the French and English settlers, being made equal in 
rights, became united in interest and affection, and lived 
together in peace and harmony thenceforward. 

The position held by the French settlers is indicated by 
the fact that among the Council of Twelve nominated by 
the proprietors of South Carolina in 1719, two were 
Huguenots, Benjamin de la Consiliere and Peter St. 
Julien. 

IV 

French in the It is whcu wc comc to the Eevolutiouary War, how- 
ever, that the part played by the French comes out in 
strong relief. It must be realized that South Carolina 
had not the same present and living issues that stirred 
Massachusetts to rebellion. To the South the questions 
were more remote and of principle solely. The odious 



SOUTH CAROLINA 329 

taxation was not felt by the southerners, and their rela- 
tions to the home government had been tolerable. There 
were many reasons why the state should refrain from 
making common cause with other colonies, when war was 
the consequence. But love of liberty and devotion to 
principles touching human rights and liberties prevailed, 
and when the actual contest began at Lexington and Con- 
cord, in spite of the strong royalist following, South Car- 
olina ranked herself beside the Puritan Commonwealth. 
As Ramsay says, ^' All statutes of allegiance were consid- 
ered as repealed on the plains of Lexington, and the laws 
of self-preservation left to operate in full force." The 
Provincial Congress was immediately summoned, and 
great were the objects brought before it. The i)resident Henry 
of this important body, be it remembered, was Henry Patriot 
Laurens, one of the French Protestants. When on the 
second day of the meeting it was unanimously resolved 
that an association was necessary, it was that same great 
citizen, a Huguenot, who drew up the following associa- 
tion and put his name as the first to it : 

The actual commencement of hostilities against this continent by the South 
British troops, in the bloody scene on the 19th of April last, near Bos- ^\'^ s^ep^ 
ton — the increase of arbitrary impositions from a wicked and despotic 
ministry — and the dread of insurrections in the colonies — are causes 
sufficient to drive an oppressed people to the use of arms. We, there- 
fore, the subscribers, inhabitants of vSouth Carolina, holding ourselves 
bound by that most sacred of all obligations — the duty of good citizens 
towards an injured country, and thoroughly convinced that, under our 
present distressed circumstances, we shall be Justified before God and 
man in resisting force by force — do unite ourselves under every tie of 
religion and honour, and associate as a band in her defense against 
every foe — hereby solemnly engaging that, whenever our continental 
or provincial councils shall decree it necessary, we will go forth and 
be ready to sacrifice our lives and fortunes to secure her freedom and 
safety. This obligation to continue in full force until a reconciliation 
shall take place between Great Britain and America, upon constitu- 
tional principles — an event which we most ardently desire. And we 
will hold all persons inimical to the liberty of the colonies who shall 
refuse to subscribe this association. 



330 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

Huguenot In tliG work of this Provincial Congress, perhaps the 

most important which ever assembled in the state, Henry 
Laurens the Huguenot was easily the commanding figure 
and the leading influence. His character and talents fitted 
him to command. He was a gentleman, scholar, states- 
man and patriot, supplementing his own fine qualities 
by a sincere piety. He was later to fill a larger sphere. 
He was among the first to see the trend of the British 
policy towards the colonies and to argue in behalf of the 
colonial rights, and it was in large measiu-e owing to his 
bold and outspoken convictions that the sentiment of his 
state was so sound and strong. 

John Huger In the Couucil of Safety chosen by the Congress Henry 

Laurens stands first, and John Huger, another Huguenot, 
"was a second member. Some time later, when the Pro- 
vincial Congress had voted itself to be the General As- 
sembly of South Carolina, and had adopted an independ- 
ent constitution, a legislative council and other officers 
were elected. In the council were George Gabriel Powel 
and Le Eoy Hammond ; Henry Laurens was vice-presi- 
dent ; John Huger was secretary. This was an honourable 
Huguenot representation in the civil government. 

V 

When it came to military service, of which South Car- 
olina had full share, the French were still more in evi- 
dence. Aside from Marion, whose story will be told else- 
Lieut.-coi. where. Lieutenant- Colonel John Laurens, son of Honour- 
able Henry Laurens, was a notable figure. Highly edu- 
cated, widely travelled, the correspondence between him 
and his father shows both the literary ability and the un- 
usually close relationship between the two. Possessed of a 
charming personality, handsome and accomplished, he 
had a host of friends, and promised to be perhaps the 
most popular citizen of his state. He entered upon the 
war for independence with all the ardour of patriotism, 
and proved a most efficient officer and gallant leader. 



SOUTH CAEOLINA 



331 



He was the idol of his men, aud for his known bravery 
and quickness of resource was chosen for difiicult aud 
dangerous service. Thus we find him detailed to disjjute caiiant ai 
the difficult pass of Cossawhatchie bridge, near Charlestou, 
with the British General Prevost and his large force ; 
while Laurens had only eighteen continentals and some 
militia under him. He persevered in the defense until 
he was wounded aud had lost half his continentals, when 
the militia, in peril for the first time, retreated. In the 
campaigns of 1779 and 1780 Lieutenant- Colonel Laurens 
was actively engaged. When Sir Henry Clinton landed 
on the main, in his siege of Charleston, it was the intrepid 
Laurens who, with a corps of light infantry, briskly at- 
tacked his advance guards. While during the next year 
the American cause was low in South Carolina, with 
Charlestou in the hands of the British, military opera- 
tions were continued, and the value of Laurens' serv- 
ices was fully recognized. 

When the brighter days came for the colonists, he fell a Martyr 
a martyr in the struggle for freedom. The British an- 
nounced their intention to evacuate Charleston in the 
summer of 1782 ; but before going sent out marauding 
parties to seize provisions. A considerable party was 
sent to Combakee Ferry, and Brigadier-General Gist, 
with about three hundred cavalry and infantry of the 
Continental army, was detached to oppose them. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Laurens, though he had been confined by 
illness for several days, hearing of the expedition, rose 
from his bed and followed General Gist. When the 
British and American detachments approached within a 
few miles of each other, Lieutenant- Colouel Lam^ens, be- 
ing in advance with a small party of regulars and militia, 
engaged with a much superior force in expectation of 
support from the main body in his rear. 

'' In the midst of his gallant exertions," says Eamsay, 
"this all- accomplished youth received a mortal wound. 
Nature had adorned him with a profusion of her choicest 



Tribute to his 
Worth 



332 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

gifts, to which a well conducted education had added its 
most useful as well as its elegant improvements. Though 
his fortune and family entitled him to pre-eminence, yet 
he was the warm friend of republican equality. Gener- 
ous and liberal, his heart expended with genuine philan- 
thropy. Zealous for the rights of humanity, he con- 
tended that personal liberty was the birthright of every 
human being, however diversified by country, colour or 
capacity. His insinuating address won the hearts of all 
his acquaintances ; his sincerity and virtue secured their 
lasting esteem. Acting from the most honourable prin- 
ciples — uniting the bravery and other talents of a great 
officer with the knowledge of a complete scholar, and the 
engaging manners of a well-bred gentleman, he was the 
idol of his country — the glory of the army — and an orna- 
ment of human nature. His abilities shone in the legis- 
lature and in the cabinet, as well as in the field, and were 
equal to the highest stations. His admiring country, 
sensible of his rising merit, stood prepared to confer 
on him her most distinguished honours. Cut down in 
the midst of all these prospects, he has left mankind to 
deplore the calamities of war, which in the twenty -seventh 
year of his life deprived society of so valuable a 
citizen." 

Allowing something in this tribute to state pride and 
the pathos of the event, there is no doubt that this young 
man was one of the best examples of the educated Amer- 
icans of his day — American by birth and principle and 
affection — yet the son of a French refugee, an exile for 
religion and conscience. There was no better stock than 
this out of which to make the true Americanism. 

VI 

Major Huger Auothcr bravc French officer who gave his life for his 
country was Major Benjamin Huger, whose ancestors 
came to South Carolina in 1696. Daniel Huger, born in 
the province of Poitoux, France, fled to La Eochelle dur- 



SOUTH CAROLmA 333 

ing the bitter persecution of his province at Louduu, his 
native town, where fifteen hundred Huguenots were com- 
pelled to recant in a single night by two companies of 
dragoons. Stealing away from his home with his wife 
and child, under cover of the darkness they made their 
escape, and when La Rochelle could not afford shelter 
they came to America, being among the early settlers in 
South Carolina, where two children were born to them. 
From this family came John Huger, who was made sec- 
retary of the new state after the Provincial Congress had 
been dissolved ; and Benjamin Huger, who entertained 
the army as captain, and by merit was advanced to the 
rank of major. In the attack upon Charleston by the Killed in 1779 
British in 1779, by a false alarm at night the militia were 
led to fire upon the supposed advancing enemy. By this 
unfortunate mistake Major Huger, who was without the 
lines on duty with a party, was killed by his own coun- 
trymen. He is described as ^' a brave officer, an able 
statesman, and a highly distinguished citizen." He led 
his company in the defense of Fort Moultrie, which was 
one of the brilliant events in the state's revolutionary 
history. 

Eminent service was rendered also by Colonel Daniel 
Horry, of a Huguenot family. After a long series of dis- coionei Horry 
asters, for the greater safety of its people the State Assem- 
bly passed a severe militia law, intended to strengthen 
the Continental army. The extent and variety of mili- 
tary operations in the open country pointed out the ad- 
vantages of cavalry ; and a regiment of dragoons was 
raised and put under command of Colonel Horry. While 
its work was very different from that which made the 
dragoons of France a terror to the innocent Huguenots, 
this regiment did most valiantservice underits brave leader, 
who possessed something of the dash and daring that made 
Marion conspicuous. Marion himself, in his exploits, Regiment of 
received great assistance from the active exertions of the 
French officers, Colonels Peter and Hugh Horry, Colonel 



334 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

James Postell, and Major John Postell ; while in the ranks 
the Huguenot descendants were well represented. Cer- 
tainly the French exiles had repaid the land which gave 
them refuge, and proved the quality of their loyalty to 
their adopted country. 
French Exiled It is significant both as to their rank as citizens and 

for Patriotism i . • 

loyalty to the American cause, that among the prominent 
citizens of Charleston who were exiled to Florida by Lord 
'Cornwallis were John Mouatt, John Neufville, Ernest 
Poyas, Samuel Prioleau, Daniel Bordeaux, Daniel Des- 
saussure, and Benjamin Postell. The influence of this 
class of patriots was so feared by the British commander 
that he was not content to have them paroled at home. 
In their attitude towards the revolution the Huguenots 
of South Carolina differed from the majority of those in 
New England and New York, who were ranked among 
the Tories. It is not strange that men who had been 
liospitably welcomed and treated by the representatives 
of the British government should hold loyally to it as 
long as its authority endured. 

VII 

In 1701 Mr. John Lawson published ' ' A Journal of a 
An Ear'.y Thousaud Milcs travelled through several Nations of the 

Description " 

by an English ludiaus." Hc thus dcscribes a visit to the first Hugue- 

Traveller ° 

nots who settled m South Carolina : 

The first place we designed for was Santee River, where there is a 
colony of French Protestants allowed and encouraged by the lords 
proprietary. As we rowed up the river we found the land towards 
the mouth scarce anything but a swamp, affording vast cj'press trees 
of which the French make canoes, that will carry fifty or sixty barrels. 
There being a strong current in Santee River caused us to make but 
small way with our oars. With hard rowing we got that night to 
Monsieur Eugee's (Huger's) house, which stands about fifteen miles 
up the river, being the first Christian dwelling we met with in that 
settlement, and were very courteously received by him and his wife. 
Many of the French follow a trade with the Indians, living very con- 



SOUTH CAROLINA 335 

venieiitly for that interest. There are about seventy families seated 
on this river, ■\\ho live as decently and hapijily as any planters in these 
southward parts of America. The French being a temperate, industri- 
ous people, some of them bringing very little of effects, yet, by their a Tribute to 
endeavours and mutual assistance among themselves, which is highly to character 
be commended, have outstripped our English, who brought with them 
large fortunes, though, as it seems, less endeavour to manage their 
talent to the best advantage. 

We lay all night at Monsieur Eugee's, and the next morning set out 
further to go the remainder of our journey by land. At noon we 
came up with several French Plantations, meeting with several 
Creeks by the way. The French were very officious in assisting 
with small dories to pass over the waters, whom we met coming 
from their church, being all of them clean and decent, their houses 
and plantations suitable in neatness and contrivance. They are 
all of the same opinion of the church of Geneva ; there being no 
difference amongst them concerning the punctilios of the Christian 
faith, which union hath propagated a happy and delightful concord, 
and in all other matters throughout the whole neighbourhood ; living 
amongst themselves as one tribe or kindred, every one making it his 
business to be assistant to the wants of his countrymen ; preserving 
his estate and reputation with the same exactness and concern as he 
does his own ; all seeming to share in the misfortunes and rejoice at 
the advancement and rise of their brethren. 

Towards the afternoon we came to Monsieur L. Jandron (Gendron), 
where we got our dinners. There came some French ladies whilst we 
were there, lately from England, and Monsieur Le Grand, a worthy 
Norman, who hath been a great sufferer in his estate by the persecu- 
tion in France against those of the Protestant religion. . . . We 
got that night to Monsieur Gailliar's the elder (Gailliard) ; who lives 
in a very curious contrived house, built of brick and stone, which is 
gotten near that place. Near here comes in the road from Charles- 
town, and the rest of the English settlement. . . . We intended 
for Monsieur Gailliar's, Jr. , but were lost, none of us knowing the way 
at that time, although the Indian with us was born in that country, 
it having received so strange a metamorphosis. When we got to the 
house we found our comrades, and several of the French inhabitants 
with them who treated us very courteously, . . . After having 
refreshed ourselves we parted from a very kind, loving, and affable 
people, who wished us a safe and prosperous voyage. 

These people were indeed kind and affable, courteous Genial 

.-,., Cotnradery 

and agreeable. They carried with them a cheerfumess 



336 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Famous 
Gardeners 



and geniality, a spirit of comradery and honoui-, that 
made them model settlers. They bore hardships with 
little comiDlaint, and soon x^ut a new face upon every- 
thing by their skill. Their plantations were sure to be 
the best and most attractive. Their gardening was justly 
famous, and their taste was manifest. They were not too 
busy wrestling with the virgin soil for livelihood to culti- 
vate flowers and gratify their esthetic natures. In all 
these respects they differed materially from the Puritan 
type. Yet they were as devoutly and staunchly religious, 
as the fact of their exile proved. They generally bought 
lands, and some of them had means of purchasing large 
tracts, which they portioned out and sold at a low price 
to their distressed brethren. ' ' We do not hear of any 
instance of oppression among them," says Allen, " either 
exercised towards each other or Americans." 
Their Religion j^ South Carolina they very generally adopted the 
Episcopal mode of worship. The French Calvinistic 
church in Charleston adhered to its peculiar worship. It 
was built about 1693. The time of worship was regu- 
lated by the tide, for the accommodation of the members, 
many of whom came by the river from the settlements 
around. "VVe can hardly imagine anything more pic- 
turesque than these little boats, borne on the water and 
filled with noble and daring beings, who had endured 
danger and suffering, and risked their lives, for the spir- 
itual life of the soul. ' ' Often the low chant was dis- 
tiuguished amidst the dashing of the oars, and sometimes 
an enthusiastic strain swelled on the ear, like those which 
proceeded from the lips of the martyrs when the flames 
curled around them." 

Their conduct was not marked by rash enthusiasm ; 
theirs was a religion founded on principle. They were 
free fi-om fanaticism and exaggeration. Their memorials 
to the government are simple and concise, and bear every 
evidence of truth. When they petition for their rights, 
it is done in a calm, conciliatory manner ; and this is 



Founded on 
Principle 



SOUTH CAEOLINA 337 

tlie more extraordinary, from the impetuous constitution 
of Frenchmen and the keen sense of wrongs they had en- 
dured in their own country. This spirit of forbearance, 
integrity and perseverance, marks them wherever they 
settled, North or South. 

" Who does not feel," says their historian Allen, " that The strength 
there is more to be reverenced in the exiled Huguenot, °^ ^'^*^ 
who has forsaken all from the highest sense of duty, who 
has uniformly placed his confidence in God under the 
severest trials, than the mighty monarch who exiled him ? 
It is those in whom the power of virtue is formed and 
matured that are really great. The history of the Hugue- 
nots would be an enigma without this key to human 
power ; but he, who feels this undying principle, cannot 
be trodden under foot, for he holds fast the inward con- 
sciousness of his own worth, which supports him under 
every oppression, and makes him strong to endure — a 
strength derived from genuine piety, and the deep sense 
of Christianity enjoined by its author." 

In France these Huguenots were a law-loving and law- ^ cultured 
abiding people. They feared God and honoured their P«°pie 
king. They were reared in habits of sobriety and virtue. 
They may be said to have inherited cultivated manners, 
so careful were parents to set examples to their children, 
and form the manner of intercourse in households and in 
society. Endui'ing the hardships of a new colony in a 
foreign land, they preserved the amenities of life. In 
their distress and in their prosperity, they never forgot that 
they sprung from the most polished country in the world. 

The habits of both mutual and self-respect, of social 
intercom^se and enjoyments, of activity and enterprise, 
created the wealth and formed the manners of South 
Carolina. Frank, urbane, cultivated, kind, resolute, en- 
ergetic, the descendants of colonies composed of Hugue- 
nots and English and Scotch-Irish intermingled aud 
amalgamated, hold an enviable place among the sister- 
hood of states. 



CHAPTEE V 
FEANCIS MAEION 



A Revolu- 
tionary Hero 



Grandson of a 

French 

Refugee 



1 J^ 



VEEY war has its couspicuous leaders, and de- 
velops lieroes hitherto unknown to fame. The 
' war of the American Eevolution produced one of 
the most dashing and daring of these heroic and romantic 
personages in the South Carolina Huguenot, Francis 
Marion. His story reads like historical romance, how- 
ever soberly and truthfully it is told. He may be called 
the Garibaldi of America. His name became a terror to 
the British. They knew that when he was about, it 
would be the unexpected that would happen. By the 
very recklessness of his attacks, by the risks he ran, by 
the sheer audacity of his movements, he astounded and 
defeated the enemy time after time, unless his name 
possessed something of the quality of magic. What gal- 
lant " Phil " Sheridan was in our Civil War, Marion was 
in the Eevolution. And Francis Marion was the grand- 
son of a French refugee from Languedoc, who found his 
way, with the Manigaults and Laureuses and Hugers, to 
South Carolina. Of thirteen children of this staunch 
Huguenot, the eldest was the father of Francis, who was 
to become an American general. 

Born at Winy aw in 1733, at sixteen the boy decided on 
a seafaring life, but on his first voyage to the West Indies 
was shipwrecked, and was one of the three of the crew 
rescued after being six days in an open boat. This dis- 
aster and his mother's entreaties induced him to quit the 
sea. A life of adventure had irresistible attractions for 
him, and when the Indians became troublesome he found 
his opportunity. In 1759 he went as volunteer in his 

338 



FEANCIS MAEION 



339 



1775 

Captain 



Marion's 
Brigade 



brother's militia troop of horse in Littleton's expedition, 
and two years later was serving as lieutenant under Capt. 
William Moultrie, in Grant's expedition to the Indian 
country. 

When a regular army was formed in 1775 to defend 
South Carolina against Great Britain, Marion was ap- 
pointed a captain in the second South Carolina regiment, 
and before the fall of Charleston had risen to the rank of 
colonel. A fractured leg caused his absence from the 
garrison at its surrender and saved him from being made 
prisoner. He retreated to North Carolina, and on the coionei 
approach of General Gates made his way to the Santee, 
where he found a number of his French countrymen ready 
to put themselves under his command, to which he had 
been appointed by General Gates. This corps acquired 
the name of Marion's Brigade, and its exploits became 
famous. Its original members were French and Irish. 
For chief officers Marion had Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh 
Horry, his bosom friend. Colonel Peter Horry, Captain 
Lewis Ogier, and the Postell brothers of his own nation- 
ality ; with Major James, a gallant Irishman who had been 
the means of arousing the section to resistance through 
his insolent treatment by a British officer ; Major Vauder- 
horst, representing the Dutch blood ; and Captain John 
Milton of Georgia. 

II 

Marion's Brigade immediately set itself to serious busi- 
ness. A few days after taking command, General Marion 
led his men across the Peedee at Post's Ferry, to disperse a 
large party of Tories. He surprised them in their camp, 
killed one of their captains and several privates, and 
routed them, horse and foot. This was the beginning of 
a series of remarkable encounters and victories. We find 
him, on hearing of the defeat of General Gates at Cam- 
den, marching to intercept and rescue the prisoners on 
their way to Charleston. One of his divisions, sixteen 
men, under command of Colonel Hugh Horry, by a dash 



Remarkable 
Victories 



340 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Resource- 
fulness 



The Swamp 
Fox 



in tlie dark took a British guard of thirty-two men and re- 
leased 150 prisoners, with only one man wounded. When 
the general cause looked hopeless, reduced in men to a 
handful through desertion and discouragement, the 
spirits of Marion were undaunted, and with the band of 
faithful officers who were ready to follow him to the death, 
he revived courage among the despondent, recruited his 
forces, and by spirited attacks and steady victories of 
surprising character inspired such confidence that men 
flocked to his command. 

He was marvellous in resourcefulness. Once he was 
attacking a far superior force of the Tories, who were ad- 
vantageously j)0sted to receive him. In the sharp conflict 
that followed, suddenly Marion was heard to call out, 
"Advance cavalry and charge on the left," whereupon 
the dismayed Tories, thinking their flank was turned, 
broke and ran for the swamp. This victory enabled 
General Marion to march into Williamsburg. His suc- 
cesses were often due to the fact that his attacks were 
surprises. In all his marches Marion and his men lay in 
the open air with little covering, and with little other 
food than sweet potatoes and meat mostly without salt. 
The general fared worse than his men ; for his baggage 
having caught fire by accident he had literally but half a 
blanket to cover him from the dews of the night, and but 
half a hat to shelter him from the rays of the sun. But 
he established himself in impregnable positions, and be- 
came known as the Swamp Fox, sending his scouts in all 
directions, harassing the enemy at diverse points, making 
unexpected assaults upon supply stores, and giving the 
Tories some of their own medicine in the way of devasta- 
tion. 

Marion indeed so effectually thwarted the schemes of 
the British against South Carolina, that a turning point 
in the fortunes of the war came largely through his perni- 
cious activity, which inspired the superior forces of the 
enemy with dread, and discouraged the Tories who hoped 



FRANCIS MARION 341 

to win the state to the British side. To drive Marion out 
of the country was a favourite object of the British, and 
in 1781 a thoroughly organized attempt was made to des- 
troy or disperse his now noted Brigade, which was held to 
be invincible. The story of the way Marion led the enemy 
into ambuscades and defeated them, though he was prac- 
tically without ammunition, forms one of the stirring in- 
cidents of a war full of surprises and heroism. Coming 
later under direct command of General Greene, to the end 
of the war Marion continued his distinguished services. 
Illustrious among the patriot soldiery are the French 
Protestants of South Carolina, to whom it was given by 
the fortunes of the War for Independence to play an im- 
portant part. 

Ill 

To Marion and his surroundings in the swamp we are 
introduced in the historical romances of William Gilmore a Hero of 
Simms. Discounting the romance sufficiently, let us ^""^^""^^ 
penetrate the Cypress with one of his heroes, and after 
hours of hard riding through thicket and morass, perhaps 
splashed with water and torn by the undergrowth, we 
shall find ourselves admitted to the famous camp of 
Marion. From the time of our entrance into the swamp, 
scouts and sentries have been safely passed at intervals 
along the way, the guide elected of our fancy answering 
sundry hootiugs of owls and familiar whistlings with 
satisfactory repetitions of the same. "Owls abroad?" picture of the 
has been the challenge of some coon -skin- covered head s^^"^p 
thrust out at us from the bushes, to which the responsive 
'' Owls at home ! " has been promptly given. And when, 
on nearer approach, the demand is made, ''What owl 
hoots ? ' ' the due answer has been forthcoming ; until at 
last we are permitted to dismount. 

At once we become conscious of a little world out here 
in the woods by itself. In a hollow, the better to hide the 
flames, the party has built its fires, about which, in vary- 
ing degrees of activity or repose, are grouped the hunted 



342 Tip FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



The Dashing 
Colonel 



The Men Who 
Won Battles 



followers of the "Swamp Fox." Here a trooper is 
meudiug his bridle beneath a gigantic oak, or ash, or 
hickory, while a little further away another of less stren- 
uous make-up is stretched at length, with feet to the fire, 
and half- closed eyes peering dreamily up through the 
branches into the starlit sky. Yonder a knot of younger 
men are busy fashioning arrows from a great pile of 
canes or reeds such as abound in the lowlands of this 
region, while a basket stands near by crowded with 
feathers of the eagle, crane, hawk and common turkey, to 
be fitted to the shafts when ready. In the hollow trunk 
of a tree bows and these arrows will be stored against the 
possible failui^e to capture more of King George's baggage- 
wagons laden with British arms and ammunition. The 
trees are a veritable depository for bridles, blankets, coats 
and cloaks, and a dozen saddles lie scattered about. 

Here in his element is the typical ranger, or forester, of 
the period, with his scanty though picturesque costume, 
consisting of a mixture of Indian undress and military 
uniform, with his nonchalance, his drawl, and his almost 
uncanny cleverness in woodcraft, or the fence which is 
capable of deluding an enemy into the feeling that he is a 
friend. Even the names by which he is familiarly known 
among his fellows bespeak the haunts and habits to which 
his peculiar warfare has driven him ; for, in the frank and 
unconventional phrase of the camp, we shall be sm^e to 
meet Hard-Riding Dick, Dusky Sam, Clix3 the Can, 
Prickly Ash, and Black Fox. Such a leader, in such 
surroundings, was Francis Marion, who seemed to his 
slower antagonists to wear a charmed life and possess 
wings. 

And what a company it was one might have met in the 
Swamp on occasion. There was the powerful Rhode 
Islander, General Greene, in whose veins was Huguenot 
blood, and who was majestic alike in person and in pro- 
fessional dignity ; as unlike Marion as one could imagine ; 
noble Governor Rutledge, the veritable father of the peo- 



FRANCIS MAEION 343 

pie ; the Swamp Fox himself, that famous guerrilla of 
Caroliua, with his modest person and demeanour, even 
while he remained the sleepless master of every situation ; 
the Game Cock, Sumter, with his dash and sensitive 
pride ; besides William Washington, the nephew of the 
commander-in-chief, and Lee, and the Huguenot Horry 
and the rest. 

IV 

In this connection we may well give place to some a stirring 
verses of one of Simms' ringing martial lyrics which ^^""^ 
well describes Marion and his men : 



We follow where the Swamp Fox guides, 

His friends and merry men are we ; 
And when the troop of Tarletou ridea, 

We burrow in the cypress-tree. 
The turfy hammock is our bed, 

Our home is in the red-deer's den, 
Our roof, the tree-top overhead, 

For we are wild and hunted men. 



Free bridle bit, good gallant steed, 

That will not ask a kind caress, 
To swim the Santee at our need, 

When on our heels the foemen press — 
The true heart and the ready baud, 

The spirit stubborn to be free — 
The twisted bore, the smiting brand — 

And we are Marion's men, you see. 

Now light the fire, and cook the meal — 

The last, perhaps, that we shall taste. 
I hear the Swamp Fox round us steal, 

And that's a sign we move in haste. 
He whistles to the scouts, and hark ! 

You hear his order calm and low — 
Come, wave your torch across the dark, 

And let us see the boys that go. 



344 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Now stir the fire, and lie at ease ; 

The scouts are gone, and on the brush 
I see the colonel bend his knees, 

To take his slumbers too — but hush ! 
He's praying, comrades : 'tis not strange ; 

The man that's fighting day by day 
May well when night comes, take a change, 

And down upon his knees to pray. 

Now pile the brush and roll the log : 

Hard pillow, but a soldier's head, 
That's half the time in brake and bog, 

Must never think of softer bed. 
The owl is hooting to the night, 

The cooter crawling o'er the bank, 
And in that pond the plashing light 

Tells where the alligator sank. 

What — 'tis the signal ! start so soon, 

And through the Santee swamp so deep, 
Without the aid of friendly moon. 

And we, heaven help us, half asleep ! 
But courage, comrades ! Marion leads, 

The Swamp Fox takes us out to-night; 
So clear your swords and spur your steeds. 

There's goodly chance, I think, of fight. 




T 



CHAPTER VI 
THE HUGUENOTS IN VIRGINIA 



HE earliest mention of the French in colonial Earliest 

Mention in 

Virginia occurs m the year 1610. In June of ^eio 
that year Captain-General and Governor Lord 
De la Warr arrived off the Virginia coast at the mouth 
of the James River, Before proceeding up the river to 
Jamestown, he went ashore with several of his officers to 
inspect the soil and vegetation of his new dominion. All 
were charmed with the fertility and luxuriance which 
they beheld on every side, and the governor, as the ac- 
count runs, on discerning the richness of the soil and the 
mildness of the climate " determined to set a Frenchman 
heere awork to plant Vines which grew naturally in great 
plentie." Going on up the river to Jamestown, De la pfl^^^^^s^'"^ 
Warr " alloted every Man his particular Place and Busi- 
ness. The French prepared to plant the Vines ; the Eng- 
lish laboured in the Woods and Grounds." 

In 1619 Sir Edwin Sandys, treasurer of the Virginia 
Company makes mention of the vines " which by culture 
will be brought to excellent perfection. For the affecting 
whereof divers skillful Vignerons are sent. . . . Our 
Frenchmen assure us that no Countrie in the World is 
more proper for vines . . . than Virginia." 

In 1621, the new governor, Sir Francis Wyatt, was in- 1621 
structed ''to plant Mulberry trees and make silk, and 
take care of the Frenchmen sent about that work." 

The Virginia Company expected a great future for the 
wine and silk trade in the New World, and in order to 
foster it they brought over several skillful Frenchmen. 
The venture did not appear to succeed, however, and not 

345 



346 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Petition to 
Colonize 



long after their arrival iu America the French began to 
plant tobacco — much against the wishes of the company, 
who saw a greater profit slipping away from it. The 
numbers of the French who were brought over at the ex- 
pense of the company were probably not large, and their 
names have utterly perished. 

In July, 1621, Sir Dudley Carleton, British ambassa- 
dor at the Hague, received the following petition : 



Remarkable 
Document 



To Build a 
City 



Cannon for 
Defense 



Husbandry 



His lordship the ambassador of the most serene king of Great Britain 
is humbly entreated to advise and answer us in regard to the articles 
which follow. 

I. Whether it would please his IMajesty to permit fifty to sixty 
families, as well Walloons as French, all of the Reformed religion, to 
go and settle in Virginia, a country under his rule, and whether it 
would please him to undertake their protection and defense from and 
against all, and to maintain them in their religion. 

II. And whereas the said families might find themselves near upon 
three hundred persons ; and whereas they would wish to carry with 
them a quantity of cattle, as well for the cultivation of the earth as for 
their sustenance, and for these reasons would need more than one 
ship ; whether his Majesty would not accommodate them with one, well 
equipped and furnished with cannon and other arms, on board of 
which, together with the one they would provide, they could accom- 
plish their voyage ; the same returning to obtain merchandise for the 
regions granted by his said Majesty, as well as that of the country. 

III. Whether he would permit them, on their ari'ival in said coun- 
try, to choose a convenient spot for their abode among the places not 
yet cultivated by those whom it has pleased his Majesty to send thither 
already, 

IV. Whether, having secured the said spot, they might build a city 
for their protection and furnish it with the necessary fortifications, 
wherein they might elect a governor and magistrates for the main- 
tenance of order as well as Justice, under those fundamental laws 
which it has pleased his Majesty to establish in said regions. 

V. Whether his said Majesty would furnish them cannons and 
munitions for the defense of said place, and grant them right in case 
of necessity to make powder, fabricate balls and found cannons under 
the flag and arms of his said Majesty. 

VI. Whether he would grant them a circuit or territory of eight 
English miles radius, that is sixteen in diameter, wherein they might 
cultivate fields, meadows, vineyards, and the like, which territory 



THE HUGUENOTS IN VIRGINIA 347 

they would hold, whether conjoiutly or severally, from his Majesty in 
such fealty and homage as his Majesty should find reasonable, without 
allowing any other to dwell there unless by taking out pajiers of resi- 
dence within said territory, wherein they would reserve rights of in- 
ferior lordship ; and whether those of them who could live as nobles 
would be permitted to style themselves such. 

VII. Whether they would be permitted in the said lands to hunt 
all game, whether furred or feathered, to fish in the sea and rivers, and 
to cut heavy and small timber, as well for navigation as other pur- Free Trading 
poses, according to their desire ; in a word, whether they might make 
use of everything above and below ground according to their will and 
pleasure, saving the royal rights ; and trade in everything with such 
persons as should be thereto i^rivileged. 

Sir Dudley himself, who knew Jesse de Forest, the what Virginia 
leader of the petitioners, favoured the project and re- 
ferred the matter to the lords in council, who for their 
part turned the petition over to the Virginia Company. 
The answer of the directors was not unfavom^able, but 
they refused to give the would-be colonists a ship, " being 
utterly exhausted and unable to afford other help than 
advice as to the cheapest mode of transporting them- 
selves." The company also said in its reply, "that for 
the prosperity and principally securing of the plantation 
in his Maj's obedience, it is not expedient that the said 
families should be set down in one gross and entire body, 
but that they should rather be placed in convenient num- 
bers in the principal cities . . . there being given 
them such proportions of laud and all other privileges 
and benefits whatsoever in as ample a manner as to the 
natural English." It is jjrobable that the petitioners 
came to the conclusion that advice was quite as cheap in 
England as it was in Leyden, for they engaged in no 
further parleying with the Virginia Company. But 
what was Virginia's loss was New Amsterdam's gain, 
for two years later the Dutch sent part of the band 
to the mouth of the Hudson, as we have previously 
related. 



348 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

II 

1629 After the fall of La Eoclielle, the Baron De Sauce, a 

Venture hero of the defense of that city under the Duke of Eohan, 

took refuge in England, and in 1629 begged permission 
of the government to establish a colony of Huguenots in 
Virginia '' to cultivate vines and to make silke and salt 
there." The request was favourably received and he was 
given letters of denization for himself and son in order 
that he might return to France in safety to get his family 
and property. Careful preparations were made, and in 
due course of time the expedition sailed for Virginia. It 
landed safely ou the southern side of the James Eiver and 
a settlement was commenced in what is now the county 
of Nausemond, then known as " Southampton Hundred," 
a patent of 200,000 acres granted several years be- 
fore. 

No records of this colony have been discovered, and its 
fate is a matter of conjecture. Says Colonel E. L. Maury, 
who has carefully examined the Virginia records, ''I 
have not been able to learn further of this colony ; mani- 
festly it did not flourish, and must have soon dispersed, 
having left no enduring memorial." 
Unfit Site The place chosen for this abortive attempt at coloniza- 

tion was perhaps the worst that could have been selected 
in all Virginia. In 1698, Col. William Byrd, in helping the 
government to locate the band who finally settled at Man - 
akin Town ( about twenty miles above Eichmoud, on the 
James Eiver), wrote of ' ' Southampton Hundred, " " that 
part is according to its name, for the most part low 
swampy ground, unfit for planting and Improvement and 
ye air of it very moist and unhealthy so that to send 
French thither that came from a dry and serene Clymate 
were to send them to their death, and that would very 
ill answer his Maj'tys charitable intentions." 

The settlers did not all perish, however, for Huguenot 
names became frequent in the records of Norfolk 
County. 



THE HUGUENOTS IN VIRGINIA 349 

III 

" As the seventeenth century waxed so did the Hugue- Virginia 
not emigration to Virginia continuously increase." The settiers°^*° 
refugees came singly, or in isolated groups and families. 
Among the colonial legislatures that of Virginia was 
foremost in encouraging applications for naturalization. 
In 1659, or thereabouts, it was enacted, ''That all aliens 
and strangers who have inhabited the country for the 
space of four years, and have a firme resolution to make 
this countrey their place of residence shall be free deni- 
zens of this collony." In 1661 the General Assembly of ^^^ Act of 

■^ Admission 

Virginia passed an act admitting all strangers desirous of 
making their homes in Virginia, to the liberties, privi- 
leges and immunities of natural born Englishmen, upon 
their petition to the Assembly, and upon taking the oaths 
of allegiance and supremacy. New York adopted a sim- 
ilar measure in 1783, and South Carolina fourteen yeara 
later. The colonies were in this ahead of the home gov- 
ernment, which had not sanctioned such acts. 

Among the Huguenots who took advantage of these Family 
laws were John Battaille, Richard Duraud, De la Mun- ^'"^^ 
dayes, Durant, de Hull, De Bar, D'Aubigne (Dabuey), 
De la Nome, De Young, De Bandy, De Berry, Roger 
Fontaine, Stephen Fouace, Hillier, Jordan, Jourdan, La 
Furder, Lines, Louis, Lassall, La Mont (Lamout), 
Moyses, Martian, Mountery, Michael, Mellaney, Mille- 
chops, Moyssier, Morel, Norman, Noel, Poythers, Periu, 
Poleste, Paule, Perrot, Place, Pluvier, Peusax, Peron, 
Pere, Pettit, Pruett, Pallisder, Robins, Ravenell, Rab- 
nett. Rosier, Regault, Rodeu, Roye, Rue, Regant, Revell, 
Royall, Sully, Sabrell, Sorrel, Sallis, ToUifer (Tallia- 
ferro), Therrialt, Toton, Tranier, Vicomte, Vasler, 
Vans, Vallentine, Vaulx, Vardie and Vodin. 

Major Moore Faunt Le Roy, founder of a " very ancient Faunt LeRoy 
and numerous family of Virginia," owned a large tract 
of land on the banks of the Rappahannock prior to 1651. 
In 16S3 the Huguenot Relief Committee in London " Paid 



350 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



French 
Ministers 



1700 

Manakin- 
town 



Marquis de la 
Muce the 
Leader 



A Noted 
Colony 



Mr. David Dasliaise, Elder of the French Church in 
London, for fifty -five French Protestants to go to Virginia, 
Seventy pounds sterling." In 1687 Stephen Fouace came 
from London with letters from the Ai-chbishop of Can- 
terbury. He became rector of a church near Williams- 
burg, was prominent among the colonial clergy and was 
later made a trustee of William and Mary College. In 
1689 came another Huguenot rector, the Eev. James 
Boisseau. 

IV 

In the last decade of the seventeenth century at least a 
thousand French Protestants came to America, receiving 
transportation from the Eelief Committee in London. A 
few of these settled in Florida, a number in South Caro- 
lina, but not less than 700 of them landed in Virginia, to 
establish a settlement, according to the earlier idea of 
Jesse de Forest. In 1700 four fleets sailed from Graves- 
end, bringing all told more than seven hundred of the 
French refugees, with " the brave and devoted " Marquis 
de la Muce at their head, and Charles de Sailly as his as- 
sociate. There were with the expedition three ministers 
and two physicians. Various sites had been considered 
for a settlement, but on arrival in Virginia the colonists 
were directed to a spot about twenty miles above Eich- 
mond, on the James Eiver, where they were given ten 
thousand acres of land which had belonged to the extinct 
tribe of Mauakiu Indians. Thus the name of the settle- 
ment became Manakintown. Baird says no more in- 
teresting body of colonists than that conducted by Oliver 
de la Muce had crossed the ocean. Many of them be- 
longed to the persecuted Waldensian race, who had taken 
refuge in Switzerland when driven from their Pied- 
montese homes by the troops of Louis XIV. Their num- 
ber being too large for the Swiss Cantons to support, Eng- 
land responded liberally to the appeal for aid, and they 
were given transportation to America, together with the 
Huguenots. Three thousand pounds were appropriated 



THE HUGUENOTS IN VIKGINIA 351 

for "the transportation of five hundred Vandois and 
French refugees designed for some of his Majesty's plan- 
tations." Of individual accounts the records show the 
sum of £38 given " out of the collection to Mons Benja- 
min DeJoux, Minister, appointed to go to Virginia ; be- 
sides £24 for the providing of himself with necessities 
for the voyage." In August, 1700, the Bishop of Loudon 
writes to the city chamberlain, ''Sir: the bearer, Mon- 
sieur Castayne, is going out Surgeon to ye French now 
departing for Virginia. He wants £20 to make uj) his 
Chest of Drugs and instruments. It is a very small mat- 
ter for such a voyage ; but if you have in your hands to 
supply that sum, I will answer for my Lord of Canter- 
bury, that he shall allow of youi- so doing." Six pounds 
per head was allowed for transportation. The names of 
the other ministers were Claude Philippe de Eichebourg 
and Louis Latane. They and the two surgeons had 
plenty of occupation in caring for the large company 
under their charge. 

Among the list of the expenses of the jomniey to items oi 
"Mauicanton" appear the following items: ''for one "p^"^^ 
distiller and one Kettle, 3£ 2s ; To Mr. Stringer for 
fusils, coutlas, bayonetts, blunderbushes, flints, etc., 41£ 
Is, for several Coates, waist coates, briches, etc., 10£ ; for 
blew Cloth handkerchieffs, cravats, etc, , 26£ ; for a great 
Black Trunck to put ye goods in, 10s ; for Brandy, Sugar, 
figgs, raisons and sugar buiscuits for the sick, 5£ ; to ye 
ship's crew for brandy 15s ; for a boat to put some people 
ashoare, and to goe to Mr. Servant for a Certificate how 
he saw Cajjt. Hawes abuse us and our goods, and to bring 
ye salt, 3s ; To Capt. Hawes for Hamacks, brandy, and 
other extraordinarys 21£ 8s; To Cuper for his sabro sait and 
broken by ye sentry upon the Shippe, 2s Gd ; for great ^"^^""^y 
uailes for the Pares ( parish ) doors, 9d ; To ye Miller to 
suffer our people by his fire and to dispatch them, 2s 6d ; 
to Corne for ye Horse, Is." 

In connection with the expenses of the journey it is 



352 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Ship Bill of 
Fare 



Liberal Treat- 
ment 



Freed from 
Taxation 



interesting to note the bill of fare whicli was set before 
the transatlantic passengers of that day. From the 
agreement made before commencing the voyage we take 
the following: "To every passenger over six years to 
have 7 pounds of Bread every week, and each mess, 8 
passengers to a mess, to have 4 pounds Porke 5 days in a 
week, with pease. 2 days in a week to have 2 four 
pound piece of Beefe with a pudding with pease. If the 
kettle cannot be boyled for bad weather, every passenger 
to have 1 pound of cheese per day." Those who were 
sick fared better, according to this item among the ex- 
penditures : "for Brandy, Sugar, figgs, raisons and sugar 
busicuits for the sick . . . £5." While fifteen shil- 
lings were presented "To ye ships crew for brandy," 
and five shillings "To ye Cooke." 

All the Huguenots who came over with la Muce did 
not settle at Manakin Town, but scattered themselves 
through the province along the banks of the James and 
Rappahannock Rivers ; some even pushing southward 
into the Carolinas. Those who joined the settlement at 
Manakin Town were treated very liberally by the gov- 
ernment of Virginia. By the king's orders the refugees 
were to be taken under the special protection of the gov- 
ernor, and the legislature showed every intention of 
making their settlement as easy and pleasant for them as 
lay within its power. Public subscriptions were taken 
for the purpose of relieving their most pressing necessi- 
ties for food and shelter. 

Says Beverly, in his history of Virginia: "The As- 
sembly was very bountiful to those that remained at this 
town, bestowing on them large donations of money and 
provisions for their support. They likewise freed them 
from every tax for several years to come, and addressed 
the governor to grant them a brief, to entitle them to the 
charity of all well-disposed persons throughout the coun- 
try, which, together with the king's benevolence, sup- 
ported them very comfortably till they could sufficiently 



THE HUGUENOTS IN VIRGINIA 353 

supply themselves with necessaries, which they now do 
intlifferently well, and have stocks of cattle which are 
said to give abundance of milk more than any other in 
the country. In the year 1702 they began an essay of 1702 wine 
wine which they make of the wild grapes gathered in """^'"^ 
the woods, the effect of which was a strong bodied claret 
of good flavour. I heard a gentleman who had tasted it, 
give it great commendation. I have heard that these 
people are upon the design of getting into the breed of 
buffaloes, to which end they lay in wait for their calves, 
that they may tame and raise a stock of them, in which, 
if they succeed, it will in all probability be greatly for 
their advantage ; for these are much larger than the 
cattle, and have the benefit of being natural to the Buffalo 
climate. They now make their own clothes, and are "^^^ '"^ 
resolved, as soon as they have improved that manufac- 
ture, to apply themselves to the making of wine and 
brandy, which they do not doubt to bring to perfection." 
But the endeavour to introduce the manufactures of 
France here at the extreme trontier of Virginia was a 
task too great for any set of colonists, and was doomed 
to failure from the first. In planning as they did they 
showed the characteristic Huguenot enterprise, but the 
necessities of life drove them to agricultm-e as the only 
means of keeping the wolf from the door. 

A letter from William Byrd thus described the settle- Description of 
ment a year after its founding: "We visited about ^ e t ement 
seventy of their huts, being, most of them very mean ; 
there being upwards of fourty of y' m betwixt ye two creeks, 
w'ch is about 4 miles along on ye Eiver, and have cleared 
all ye old Manacan ftields for near thi'ee miles together, 
as also some others (who came thither last ffeb'ry) have 
done more work than they y't went thither first. . . . 
Indeed, they are very poor. . . . Tho' these people 
are very poor, yet they seem very cheerful and are (as 
farr as we could learn) very healthy, all they seem to de- 
sire is y't they might have Bread enough." 



354 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



A French 

Parish 

Established 



King 'William 
Parish 



The strict parish laws of the province were relaxed in 
favour of the Mauakin Town settlers. In 1700 the As- 
sembly enacted as follows : 

Whereas a considerable uumber of French Protestant refugees have 
been lately imported into his Majesty's colony and dominions, several 
of which refugees have seated themselves above the falls of James 
Eiver, at, or near to a place commonly called and known by the name 
of Manakin towne, for the encouragement of said refugee to settle and 
remain together, as near as may be to the said Mauakin towne, and 
the parts adjacent, shall be accounted and taken for inhabitants of a 
distinct parish by themselves ; and the land which they now do and 
shall hereafter possess, at, or adjacent, to the said Mauakin towne, 
shall be, and is hereby declared to be a parish of itselfe, distinct from 
any other parish, to be called aud known by the name of King Will- 
iam Parish, in the county of Henrico, and not lyable to the payment 
of parish levies in auy other parish whatsoever. And be it further 
enacted ; That such and so many of the said refugees, as are already 
settled, or shall hereafter settle themselves as inhabitants of the said 
parish, shall themselves and their familyes, and every of them, be 
free aud exempted from the payment of public and county levies for 
the space of seven years next, ensuing from the publication of this act. 



A French 

Church 

Organized 



Owing to such liberal treatment the colonists were 
enabled to have a church of their own, and at the first 
division of land a choice plot of the best glebe was set 
apart for the use of the pastor. The church which was 
immediately organized (as a matter of fact the colonists 
had come as one united church) prospered with the 
growth of the settlement. According to Bishop Meade, 
the life of this old church lasted down to about the 
middle of the last century, services being held in the 
name of the original organization until 1857. Where 
harmony and quiet prosperity are the rule, there is apt 
to be a dearth of material in the shape of records and 
documents. Such is the case with the church at Manakin 
Town. The peace was broken, however, in the year 
1707, when there was an altercation between the pastor 
and the vestry. Abram Salle, vestryman, deposeth : 



THE HUGUEXOTS IN VIRGINIA 365 

"When Mr. Philips had finished the service of the . . . the 
first thing he did was to demand the Register of Christenings to be de- 
livered up to him . . . and in case he (Salle ) refuse to do it he 
would excommunicate him ; he was pleased to say this with a rage 
very unbecoming the place, which made me intreat him to have a lit- 
tle patience . . . upon this he flew out into a greater passion 
than before and frankly told us that he acknowledged no Vestry there 
was, neither would he have the people acknowledge any. Immedi- 
ately upon his nameing the People, sevarol of his party . . 
stood up . . . and took the liberty to utter many injurious 
things against me . . . and Michael . . . prest thro' the 
whole congregation to get up to where I was, and then catching me by 
the coat he threatened me very hardly, and by his Example sevarol of 
the crowd were heard to say, we must assassinate that fellow with the 
black beard. The said Philipe was — lowder than anybody. 

VI 

Rev. W. H. Foote writes of the colonists in Virginia as Enterprise 
follows : ' ' The colonists that remained at Manakin town, ^"'^ ^'""^'^ 
disappointed in their efforts to introduce the manufac- 
tures and productions of France, conformed their labours 
to the soil and climate and conditions of a frontier set- 
tlement ; and went on increasing and multiplying, and 
subduing the earth, according to the command of God in 
Eden. The ten thousand acres were soon too few for this 
enterprising people. They lengthened their cords and 
strengthened their stakes, and soon began to emigrate to 
portions of the unoccupied wilderness of Virginia. 
Goochland, and Fluvanna, and Louisa, and Albermarle, 
and Buckingham, and Powhatan, and Chesterfield, and 
Prince Edward, and Cumberland, and Charlotte, and 
Appomattox, and Campbell, and Pittsylvania, and Hali- 
fax, and Mecklinburg, all gave these emigrants a home. 
And then county after county to the west and south 
beckoned them on ; and they went on and grew and 
multiplied according to the blessing of Jacob on Joseph's 
children. Go over Virginia and ask for the descendants Assimilation 
of those Huguenot families, that cast their lot, on their fnflu^ce* 
first lauding, among the English neighbourhoods, and as 



356 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

speedily as possible conformed to the political usages of 
the colony, and adopted the English language, and by 
intermarriage were soon commingled with English society ; 
and then follow the colonists of Manakin town, as they 
more slowly assimilated with the English ; and number 
those that by direct descent, or by intermarriage have 
Huguenot blood in their veins, and the list will swell to 
an immense multitude. The influence which these de- 
scendants of the French refugees have had, and still exer- 
cise, in the formation and preservation of the character 
of the state and the nation, has unostentatiously and 
widely extended." 

Happily settled, indeed, were the French refugees in 

A Garden what they made one of the garden spots of the country. 

Spot They were not far from the home of Pocahontas, the In- 

dian princess, where, a little more than a century before, 
Captain John Smith had found his brave rescuer, and put 
a touch of enduring romance into the first days of the 
white foreigner on American soil. The Indians were not 
yet gone, and sometimes the French were made to feel a 
spirit of vengeance that classed all whites as alike 
enemies of the red men. To the English Cavaliers and 
the French gentlemen Virginia owes its peculiar type 
of cultivation, which made the plantations the scene of a 
gallantry and courtliness and grace not yet extinct. 
Where other nations often sent their poorest classes as 
emigrants, France had driven away her best to enrich 
the life of another and freer land. 

One of the most distinguished of the Huguenot families 
of Virginia was that of the Bufords, a corruption of the 
original name of Beaufort, meaning ''beautiful fort," or 
castle. The name was variously spelled, as Beauford, 
Bufford, and Buford, the form finally common. Some 
members of this family, which was royal and allied to 
Henry IV, were Huguenots, and emigrated to England 
after the Eevocation. From England some came to 
America, and in both countries the descendants are found 



THE HUGUENOTS IN VIRGINIA 357 

to-day. The Virginia ancestor was John Beauford, of 
Cbristcburch Parish, Middlesex County. From him came 
a distinguished line of soldiers, who served their country 
well, some of them conspicuously. The Third Virginia 
Regiment in the Revolution had Colonel Buford at its 
head ; and two other military members of the family were 
Major- General Napoleon B. Buford, and Major-General 
John Buford. General James H. Wilson unhesitatingly 
ascribes to General John Buford the distinction of mak- 
ing Gettysburg possible. General Buford fired the first 
gun at Gettysburg, and in the address at the unveiling of 
his statue General Wilson said: '' Strong, courageous, 
and generous, as they (the Bufords) were through many 
generations, the very flower and jewel of this family was 
the gentleman in whose name we gathered to-day. He 
selected Gettysburg for the field of battle." 

General Buford was called by the soldiers "Old 
Steadfast." He himself said of Gettysburg : "A heavy 
task was before us. We were equal to it, and shall remem- 
ber with pride that at Gettysburg we did our country 
much service." He was of the true tyjDC of French gen- 
tleman and loyal citizen. 



CHAPTER VII 
JOHN SEVIER AND HIS BRAVE WIFE 



Xavier 1740 



Natural 
Leader 



J 



OHN SEVIER, "The Commonwealth builder," is 
among the notable descendants of the Huguenot 
stock in Virginia. His father, Valentine Xavier, 
came from London in 1740 and settled in Rockingham 
County where Sevier was born in 1745. John received a 
fair education until he was sixteen years old, and the fol- 
lowing year he married and founded the village of New- 
market, in the Shenandoah valley, thus early showing his 
propensity. He was a young man of exceptional dash and 
courage and soon became known throughout the region 
as an invincible Indian fighter. In 1772 he was made a 
captain in the Virginia line for the services he had ren- 
dered in the Indian wars, and that same year, he moved 
out to Watauga, a new and rude settlement on the west 
slope of the Alleghanies, now eastern Tennessee. Through 
his courage, popular address, and ability as a commander, 
he became the undisputed leader throughout the whole of 
that fertile wilderness. Space does not permit the recital 
of all the Indian campaigns he engaged in, or a list of the 
victories he won. In this manner his years were occupied 
until the breaking out of the Revolution, when we find 
him petitioning the North Carolina legislature on behalf 
of the settlers at Watauga, asking to be annexed to that 
province that "they might aid in the unhappy contest 
and bear their full proportion of the expenses of the 
war." The request was granted, and under the title of 
Washington District the whole of that territory which is 
now Tennessee was added to North Carolina as a county. 
Sevier was active in the local government of this vast new 

358 



JOHN SEVIER AND HIS BRAVE WIFE 359 

county and under the title of " clerk of the county " he 
held in reality entire control of the administration of the 
district. 

In 1784 North Carolina ceded the territory to the Fed- The state of 
eral government in order to lighten the debts of the state. 
When the settlers heard of this they determined to found 
a government of their own and apply to the Union for 
admission. Sevier was elected governor of this new 
state, known as the State of Franklin, and for two years 
— as long as the commonwealth lasted, — retained his difii- 
cult position. Within sixty days after taking office, 
Sevier organized a court, a militia, and founded Wash- court and 

College 

ington College, the first school of a liberal nature which 
was established west of the Alleghanies. At last, how- 
ever, a proclamation from Governor Caswell, of North 
Carolina, pronounced the new government a revolt and 
ordered it to be abandoned. In the face of superior forces 
the infant state was compelled to submit, and Sevier was 
caj)tured and thrown into prison. He was rescued shortly sevier 
afterwards, however, by his incensed followers, took the Retfef ^ 
oath of allegiance to the United States, and was made 
brigadier-general of the territory. As a delegate to Con- 
gress he was the first representative to that body from the 
valley of the Mississippi. When Tennessee was made a Ip congress 

'' ^^ Governor 

state Sevier was elected its first governor, serving for 

three terms, and then after a short period, serving three 

more. In 1811 he served in Congress, and in 1815 he 

was again elected, but died before he could take his seat, unique Ruier 

His biographer says of him : "A rule like his was never 

before nor since known in this country." 

II 

Captain Sevier's wife was a remarkable woman, a her- 
oine of the pioneer days, whose story is a romance, a Colonial 
Catherine Sherrill was the daughter of a North Carolinian 
who pushed his way into Tennessee in the Revolutionary 
days. Samuel Sherrill and his family were in that com- 



360 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Gallant 
Rescue 



Marriage 
in 1780 



Sevier's 
Regiment 



Woman 
Manager and 
Quarter- 
master 



pany of pioneers which halted in the Watauga Valley, 
where the king of the Cherokees planned to exterminate 
them. He brought his whole fighting strength against 
the fort defended by Captain Sevier. In the confusion 
of the battle, it is told that the French cai^tain saw a tall, 
graceful girl running towards the fort pursued by a pack 
of savages. Exposing himself above the walls, heedless 
of the i)eril, the gallant captain shot down more than one 
Indian who had raised his tomahawk to brain the girl, 
who succeeded in leaping the palisades and fell into his 
arms. It was in that exciting manner that the brave 
Frenchman first met the woman who was to be for forty 
years his companion in adventure, hardshij) and success. 
They were married in 1780, four years after that Indian 
attack. From captain, "Nolichucky Jack," the idol of 
the pioneers, had risen to colonel by that time, and his 
whole regiment rode with him to the house of Mr. Sherrill, 
and held a "barbecue" in honour of the great event of 
their leader's wedding. Not long afterwards came the 
stress of the struggle for liberty, with its demands upon 
John Sevier and his wife. The few steadfast patriots of 
North Carolina were hard oppressed by the soldiers of 
Tarleton and Ferguson, and appealed to Sevier to help 
them. He had but a small command and no means to 
equip a large one ; but in this extremity the wife under- 
took to provide the equipment, while he immediately 
took the field. The result was that when Colonel Sevier 
rode away at the head of his famous regiment, the " ten 
hundred and forty," it was perhaps the best equipped 
regiment of the war. It was with that regiment Sevier 
stormed King's Mountain, and signally aided in turning 
the tide of the Revolution. And through all the time that 
he was kept in the field, his wife provided the resources. 
She had, besides, to manage the large estate and be financier 
and quartermaster ; and that in a region infested by 
hostile savages and equally hostile Tories, many of whom 
she met, rifle in hand, awing them by her determination. 



JOHN SEVIEE AND HIS BRAVE WIFE 361 

It is said that once she rode boldly into a camp of out- 
laws who had stolen her horses, told the leader that the 
penalty of his crime was hanging, and promising him 
speedy execution at the hands of her husband if the 
property was not returned. The horses were restored to 
her. Yet this woman, who knew no fear and could be 
as stern as her husband, was all gentleness and kindness 
to those in distress, a model housewife when peace came 
and she was mistress of her happy home. 

When John Sevier was induced, by his loyalty to his 
Watauga people, to become governor of "the Free and 
Independent State of Franklin," the result of a secession 
from North Carolina, his wife supported him, though 
she did not believe in the futile project. She kept an 
open " Governor's House," from which no one was turned Governor's 
away, and the people were as proud of the ''Governor's * ^ 
lady" as of him. Major Elholm, an officer of Pulaski's 
Legion, writing to the governor of Georgia at this time, 
said : "If Colonel Sevier is king here, his gracious lady 
is certainly queen of the Franks. She is gifted with great Queen of the 
beauty and the art of hospitality, but above all is to be 
esteemed her discreet understanding." After stirriug 
scenes, including the kiduapj^ing of Colonel and Governor 
Sevier and his rescue by his wife's ingenious plan, Ten- 
nessee emerged from the governmental chaos, the charge 
of treason made against the French leader was dismissed, 
and in recognition of his many services to his country he 
was appointed general. Near Knoxville, the fii"st and 
new capital of the state, he built another home ; and a 
little later his wife rode with him to witness his inaugura- 
tion as the first governor of Tennessee. Six terms was First 
this Huguenot descendant elected governor, and his wife Tennessee 
was noted for her hospitality as much as for her beauty. 
It is an interesting sidelight on the times that dming the 
first term as governor some eastern friend presented Mrs. 
Sevier with a brace of silver candlesticks and an im- 
ported carpet — the first ever sijread on the puncheon 



362 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



floor west of the Alleghanies, and never used save on 
state occasions. Then the candles were lighted and the 
carpet was laid in the reception-room, and there Louis 
Philippe and his brother, Andrew Jackson and many 
other notables, had the honour to rest their feet upon it. 

General Sevier died in 1815, while engaged as com- 
missioner in establishing the boundaries between Georgia 
and the Creek Nation, and all Tennessee was in mourn- 
ing for the most distinguished leader in a trying period, 
one of the truly great pioneers and commonwealth build- 
ers of America, where his persecuted forebears had 
found refuge. And ever associated with him in memory 
is his heroic and accomplished wife. 




SQUAse, eosTo» 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE THRILLING EXPERIENCES OF AN EXILED 
FAMILY 



THE Memoirs of a Huguenot Family^ by Ann po^ta^j,'" 
Mamy, one of its descendants, throw an inter- 
esting sidelight upon the sufferings and triumphs 
of a Huguenot family in entering upon their life in the 
New World. When all the manuscripts in the possession 
of Huguenot descendants in America shall have been 
brought equally into the light, the history of the French 
blood in this country can be written from a far more in- 
timate point of view than this present history can hope 
to take. The extracts we make from this most interest- 
ing but not generally accessible volume begin with the 
autobiographical introduction by the head of the Fon- 
taine family, who reveals at once his deep piety. 

' ' I, James Fontaine, have commenced writing this his- introduction 
tory, for the use of all my children, on the 26th day of 
March, 1722 ; being sixty-four years old. 

^'My dear Children — Whenever I have related my own 
adventures to you, or given you details of the incidents 
that befell your ancestors, you have evinced so deep an 
interest in them, that I feel I ought not to neglect mak- 
ing a record of the past for youi' use ; & I am determined 
to employ my leisure time in this way. I would fain 
hope that the pious examples of those from whom we are 
descended may warm your hearts and influence your 
lives. I hope you will resolve to dedicate yourselves 
wholly and unreservedly to the service of that God whom 
they worshipped at the risk of their lives, and that you, 

363 



364 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

and those who come after you will be stedfast in the pro- 
fession of that pure reformed religion for which they en- 
dured, with unshaken constancy, the most severe trials. 
You cannot fail to notice, in the course of their lives, the 
watchful hand of God's Providence, supporting and pre- 
serving them thro hardship and suffering. 

"For my own part, I trust that, while recording the past 
mercies of God for the benefit of my descendants, I 
may derive personal advantage from the review. The 
frailties and sins of the different periods of my life, thus 
brought to mind, ought to cause me to humble myself be- 
fore the throne of grace, and tremblingly implore pardon 
for the past, through the mediation of my blessed 
Saviour ; and the assistance of the Holy Spirit to make 
me watchful and circumspect for the time to come. 
When I look back upon the numberless, uncommon, and 
unmerited mercies bestowed upon me during the whole 
course of my life, I hope that my gratitude will be in- 

Gratitude and crcascd towards my Almighty Benefactor, and my con- 
fidence in Him so strengthened that I may be enabled 
for the future to cast all my care upon Him. Great as is 
my debt of gratitude for the things of this life, its mani- 
fold comforts and conveniences, how incalculably greater 
is it for the mercy to my immortal soul, in God having 
shed the blood of His only begotten Son to redeem it ! 
Oh, my God ! I entreat Thee to continue Thy fatherly 
protection to me during the few days I have yet to live, 
and, at last, to receive my soul into Thine everlasting 
arms. Amen." 

Soul Window This is like looking through an opened window into 
the soul of the good man and seeing his beautiful charac- 
ter. The following synopsis of the story is given because 
it discloses both the Huguenot character and the suffer- 
ings for faith's sake, at the same time proving the care of 

God for His children. 

II 

De la Fontaine was the original name, as on record in 



EXPERIENCES OF AN EXILED FAMILY 365 

Rochelle, where Jaques de la Fontaine, grandfather of Erasing sign 
James the autobiographer, held some command in the °^'^°'"''*y 
Tower. From motives of humility the father of James 
cut off De la, the indication of the ancient nobility of the 
family. This commonly happened among the French 
refugees in the foreign parts. John de la Fontaine, great- 
grandfather of James, was born in 1500 in the province 
of Maine, near the borders of Normandy. His father Protestant in 
procured him a commission in the household of Francis "^^^ 
I, and he became conspicuous in the king's service. He 
became a convert to Protestantism on the first preaching 
of the Reformed religion in France, about 1535. He re- 
mained in royal service for a time because this was a safe- 
guard from persecution on account of his religion. Be- 
sides, he was thus able to show much kindness to his 
Protestant brethren, whom he often shielded from op- 
pression. He had four sons. When Charles IX issued 
the Edict of Pacification in 1561, the Protestants, believ- 
ing this to be in good faith, generally laid down their 
arms, and at this time John de la Fontaine resigned his 
commissioD, thinking himself j)rotected by the Edict in 
the exercise of his religion. He retired to his paternal 
estates, hoping to end his days peacefully in the bosom 
of his family, worshipping God according to the dictates 
of his conscience. 

But the change was for the worse, instead of better, 
after the Edict ; now all was secrecy, and any wretched 
vagabond, imbued with the spirit of bigotry, could at 
once exercise the functions of judge and executioner. 
Ai-med miscreants broke into the houses of the Protes- 
tants at midnight, robbed and murdered their inmates persecution 
with a cruelty at which humanity shudders, and were en- 
couraged in their atrocities by priests, monks and bigots. 
The Protestants were again driven to recourse to arms. 
John de la Fontaine was hated because of his piety and 
zeal for the pure worship of God. In 1563 his house was 
attacked at night, he was surprised, dragged out of doors, 



366 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Murdered 
1563 



James a Hero 



A Ministerial 
Family 



A Model 
Pastor 



and his throat cut. His wife, rushing after him in hopes 
to soften the hearts of their midnight assassins, was also 
murdered. The lives of the three younger boys were 
preserved — the oldest, about eighteen, jperished. The 
second son, James, grandfather of our autobiographer, 
was about fourteen, Abraham about twelve, and the 
youngest nine. They fled from the scene of horror, with 
no other guide save Providence, and found their way to 
Eochelle, then the stronghold of Protestantism in France. 
These poor boys, deprived at one blow of parents and 
property, plunged from affluence into poverty, were 
taken in by the inhabitants, who gave them food and 
shelter for little services they could render. A shoe- 
maker, a charitable. God-fearing man, received James into 
his own house, treated him with affection, and taught him 
his trade. Before long he was earning wages which en- 
abled him to support his younger brothers. When he 
reached manhood he engaged in commerce and was com- 
paratively prosperous. He had three children who grew 
to maturity, two daughters and one son. The latter, 
father of James, was born in 1603. Henry IV called 
the grandfather the handsomest man in his kingdom. 

His son James, delicate, fond of books, early evinced an 
inclination for the ministry, was afforded college advan- 
tages, and became a Protestant pastor over the churches 
of Vaux and Eoyan. He married an English lady named 
Thompson, in 1628, and they had five children, two of 
whom became ministers. By a second wife he had five 
children more, two of whom were sons and both became 
ministers, so that this was emphatically a ministerial 
family, and we do not wonder to find descendants contin- 
uing to follow in the clerical line. 

James, oiu- author, was the youngest child of all. He 
says his father was a man of fine figure, pure red and 
white complexion, of very dignified deportment, com- 
manding the respect of all. He was remarkably abste- 
mious, living chiefly upon milk, fruit and vegetables. 



EXPEEIENCES OF AN EXILED FAMILY 367 

He was never seen among liis flock at leasts or entertain- 
ments, but made it an invariable rule to visit each family 
twice in the year. He hastened to the sick and afflicted 
as soon as their sorrows were made known to him. When 
it was known he was praying with any sick person crowds 
would flock to hear him. He was zealous and affection- 
ate, of unusual attainments, having great learning, quick 
and ready wit, clear and sonorous voice, and always used 
the most chaste, elegant and appropriate language. He 
was invited to take charge of a church at Rochelle, with 
salary twice as large as that he was receiving, but refused 
decidedly. He had not the heart to abandon a flock who 
loved him so much. 

Ill 

James was born April 7, 1685. A nurse's carelessness 1685 
lamed him for life. When only four he was so taken Early ufe 
with hearing his father read the Scriptures and pray with 
the family, that he called together the servants and his 
sisters and made them kneel while he prayed. He was 
rather precocious, and early at six was placed in school. 
When he came of age at twenty-five, after many trying 
school experiences, he was possessed of the family estate, 
and had an apparently prosperous outlook. First came Prosperity 
the tribulations of his ministerial brother-in-law, who 
was thrown into prison on a false charge of proselyting, 
and was persecuted until finally he made his escape to 
England. Then his brother Peter, who had succeeded 
his father in the pastorate at Vaux, was seized and con- 
fined in a prison, without charge or trial, while the 
church was levelled to the ground. James now was sur- 
rounded by neighbours who had no church privileges, 
and he invited them to join him in his family devotions. 
They came until the number reached 150. Then they a Benefactor 
came two or three times a week, and he preached and 
expounded the Scriptures to them. All possible was 
done to escape observation which should draw persecu- 
tion upon the people ; but at length a rumour got abroad 



368 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

that meetings were held in the parish and that he was the 
preacher. He was advised by friends to stop the meet- 
ings, but believed he was in the j)ath of duty and kei)t on 
leading the services. 
Arrest and lu 1684 at Easter the open attacks began. On deposi- 

Imprisonment th- t i T-^ •• 

tion of a lawyer M. de la J^ontame was arrested on a 
charge of leading in unlawful assemblies. He advised 
all the Protestants to remain steadfast, and willingly went 
to jail to test the rights of citizens. In prison he offered 
prayer aloud, and established a daily prayer circle, by 
this means confirming in their faith the many Protestants 
who were brought there for no other crime than meeting 
together quietly to worship. The people had become so 
determined thi^ough this bold stand of their leader and 
his willingness to suffer imprisonment for the truth, that 
they no longer fled from the provost and his archers who 
were sent out to arrest them, but indeed seemed to be 

Boldness and cagcr to show their courage. When M. de la Fontaine 

Acquittal came to trial, charged with having taught in prison, 

given offense to the Eoman Catholics who were in prison, 
and interrupted the priest in his celebration of divine 
worshij), suborned evidence was produced ; but acting in 
his own defense, the able minister turned the tables on his 
persecutors, and was triumphantly acquitted in the end 
by Parliament, to which he appealed his case. 

But the spirit of persecution became more and more 

1685 The bitter, and in 1685 the dragoons appeared. Then James 

ragoons ^^ ^^^ Foutaiuc left the home of his childhood, never to 

return to it. He had 500 francs, two good horses, on one 

of which his valet was mounted, and was well armed. 

An Exile From his amply furnished house he removed nothing, 

and within two hours after he quitted it the dragoons 
came and lived there till they had consumed or sold 
everything they could lay hands on, even to the locks 
and bolts of the doors. If one would abjure his religion 
he would be let alone, if not, death or torture was his 
fate. Eidiug rapidly forward, he visited the homes of 



EXPERIENCES OF AN EXILED FAMILY 369 

his relatives, and found many of them had recanted, to 

escape the dragoons ; but as soon as possible they left 

France for countries where they could be free to worship 

according to their faith. He did all he could to stem the 

tide of abjuration, and failure to do so made him sick 

and careless of life. For three months did this heroic 

man travel about the country endeavouring to encourage 

the Protestants. He rode by night, resting by day, to Heroic Effort 

avoid detection ; and would be six and seven days at a 

time without chance to undress. And his anxiety was 

increased by fear lest evil befall " that worthy and pious 

woman whom God gave to me afterwards for my beloved 

partner and helpmate, and my greatest earthly comfort 

— your dear mother.'' 

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (October, 1685), 
left no hope save in flight, and M. de la Fontaine made Thriiung 

. . 1 TT. Escape 

preparations m good earnest. His escape was most 
thrilling. He arranged with an English captain to take 
him and four or five persons to England, but as the coast 
was guarded to prevent emigration, which was made a 
crime, it was only after several days of distressing experi- 
ences that the party was able to board the ship and leave 
forever the shore of France. It should be realized here 
that this jeopardy of life and this loss of a comfortable 
fortune and pleasant home, together with an influential 
position as country nobleman, was undergone without a 
murmur all for the sake of religion, for the right to 
worship God according to conscience, when a word of 
recantation would have made exile and hardship unneces- 
sary. Of such stuff were these Huguenots made. 

Read his brave words : "A blessed and ever-memo- 
rable day for us, who then effected our escape from our cheerful 

1 1 , ,. 1 1 Sacrifice 

cruel enemies, who were not so much to be feared because 
they had power to kill the body, but rather from the 
pains they took to destroy the souls of their victims. I 
bless God for the multitude of His mercies in earthly en- 
joyments also. He allowed me to bring to England the 



370 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



dear one whom I loved better than myself, and she will- 
ingly gave up relations, friends, and wealth to be the 
sharer of my poverty in a strange land. I here testify that 
we have fully experienced the truth of the promise of our 
blessed Saviour, to give a hundredfold more, even in this 
present life, to those who leave all and follow Him. 
Certain it is that a man's life consisteth not in the abun- 
dance of the things that he possesseth, but in the enjoy- 
ment he has of them and it is in this sense that I would 
be understood, when I say that we have received the hun- 
dredfold promised in the Gospel ; for we have had in- 
finitely more joy and satisfaction in having abandoned 
our property for the glory of God, than they can have 
had who took possession of it." 



Romantic 
Story 



New Start in 
Ireland 



IV 

Few stories are more interesting in detail than that of 
this French family, as they sought to make a living in 
England, where ready hospitality was afforded. When, 
however, through his superior commercial ability, he be- 
came a manufacturer of worsteds, jealousy was aroused 
that led him to give up business and leave Taunton and 
England. He also discovered that while, if he would 
join the Church of England he could secure ready pre- 
ferment, as a Presbyterian he had no hope of favour. 
He felt that the Episcopalians were not much different in 
spirit in England from the Roman Catholics in France, 
though the persecution was not of the same outrageous 
character. And as he held to the simplicity of the Re- 
formed worship in which he had been trained from boy- 
hood, he preferred exile again to further persecution of 
any sort. He gave up once more his means of livelihood 
and went to Ireland, where he expected to become pastor of 
a chm-ch of French refugees. He had now six children, 
five sons and one daughter. In 1694 he became pastor in 
Cork, and started another manufactory, making broad- 
cloth. Here he was happy and prosperous, and the church 



EXPERIENCES OF AN EXILED FAMILY 371 

increased daily. But his cup of happiness was dashed 
to the earth through the comiug to the church of one 
Isaac de la Croix, who had already caused dissensions in 
two other churches, and now did the same thing at Cork. 
As a result the pastor resigned, to the great grief of his 
people. "Thus you see," says he, "how much injury 
may be done by one quari-elsome, malicious individual in 
a church. The poor minister is under the necessity of 
sacrificing his own comfort for the peace of the church. 
I was certain that if I did not resign a schism would be 
created, and did my best to prevent it." 

After this M. Fontaine was ready to leave Cork, and 
made a venture in the fishery line, which led him to be- Philanthropic 
come famous as a defender of an exposed point on the 
Irish coast against French privateers. For his services, 
which were of a most romantic character, recalling the 
most exciting pirate stories, he received recognition and 
a pension from the British government. He finally 
settled in Dublin, establishing a school there, and main- 
taining relations with many notable people. 

In 1714 his sons visited Virginia and became owners of 
a plantation, and gradually the childi-en settled on this y°"^ifi°a*° 
continent. The daughter married a Frenchman named 
Maury, and the editor of this Memoir is a great-grand- 
daughter of that branch of the family ; while the 
Fontaines are among the honoured names of the 
South. 

V 

John Fontaine, son of James, who wrote the Memoir^ 
desired to be a soldier and saw service in Spain. Plan- john 
ning for the good of his brothers and sisters he took ship joTnfar 
at Cork for Virginia, sailing December 3, 1714. These '^'* 
notes are taken from his Journal : 

Struck by a tempest, for daj's there seemed little hope, the vessel toss- 
ing at the mercy of vviud and overwhehning waves. lu these condi- 
tions this prayer, recorded in the journal, must be regarded as remark- 



372 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

able, indicating the strength of character and faith that marked this 
family : 

We are almost wasted by the violent motion of the ship, being with- 
Prayer at Sea out masts ; but we still trust in Thee, O God, and wait patiently for 
in Storm ^^^ deliverance by Thy almighty hand. Stretch forth Thine arm to us, 

O Lord, and bear us up in this our distress, lest we sink and fall un- 
der the weight of our sins. Suffer us not to repine against Thee in our 
trouble, but let us confess that we merit to be afflicted. Thou hast, O 
Lord, given for us Thy only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ : to His merits 
we fly, and through Him we hope for salvation. Do Thou pardon us, 
O Lord, and accept of these our imperfect prayers, and if Thou seeat fit 
to take us to Thyself, do Thou also cleanse us, that we may be worthy 
of appearing before Thee. All these thoughts came now before us, be- 
cause we see death as if it were playing before our eyes, waiting for 
the sentence of Almighty God to destroy us. Nothing makes this 
sight so terrible as our sins, and it is our weakness and ignorance that 
makes us think more of death now than when we are at our homes, 
and in our accounted places of security. If we rightly considered, we 
should think ourselves safer here than if we were in prosperity at 
home, for it is the devil's greatest cunning to put in our hearts that we 
are in a safe place, that we have long to live, and that a final repent- 
ance will be sufficient for our salvation. O God, give us grace that 
while we live, we may live unto Thee, and have death always before 
our eyes, which most certainly will not cheat us, but come at last and 
take us out of this troublesome life, and if we are prepared for it, 
then shall we have our recompense for past watchfulness ; therefore, let 
us cast off this world, so far as it may be prejudicial to our everlasting 
inheritance, and seek after Thy laws, expecting mercy through the 
merits of our blessed Saviour and Redeemer. Amen. 

Reaching For six weeks tlie ship was tossed about in almost con- 

irginia 1715 ^jjj^Qyg storuis, before slie could again make the English 

coast, the idea of crossing the Atlantic having been 

abandoned on account of the loss of sails and masts. In 

another month the vessel was repaired and sailed again, 

The First aud this time the voyage was made in three months. 

"" ^^ At nine of the morning on May 26, 1715, they saw 

land, and that night entered the mouth of the Potomac 
Elver. Here is the record of his first Sunday on shore 
of the new world : 

29th, Sunday. — About 8 of the clock we came ashore, and went to 



EXPERIENCES OF AN EXILED FAMILY 373 

church, which is about four miles from the place where we landed. 
The day was very hot, and the roads very dusty. We got to church a 
little late, but had part of the sermon. The people seemed to me pale 
and yellow. After the minister had made an end, every one of the 
men pulled out his pipe, and smoked a pipe of tobacco. I informed 
myself more about my own business, and found that Williamsburg was 
the only place for my design. 

This design was to establish a plantation for the family. 
He made a horseback journey to Williamsburg, became to Establish a 
acquainted with Governor Spotswood, and later formed a 
solid friendship with that functionary, going in his com- 
pany on a number of long journeys of inspection through 
the unsettled country. His journal of their experiences 
is exceedingly interesting, and as historical material 
valuable. He proves how carefully the Lord's day was 
observed by the statement that on Sunday they saw a 
number of deer and two bears, but did not shoot them 
because it was the Sabbath. While out in the forest on sabbath 
their travels, they never omitted at least having prayers 
read on Sunday. He decided to take up 3, 000 acres of 
land, and thus Virginia became the home of the Fontaine 
and Maury families — Miss Fontaine, the only daughter, 
having married M. Mauiy. 

VI 

Before returning to England, John Fontaine sailed 
from Hampton for Xew York, landing on Stateu Island, journey to 
of which he says : " There are some good improvements ^^ 
here ; the inhabitants are mostly Dutch ; the houses are 
all built with stone and lime ; there are some hedges as in 
England." From Staten Island they went by the ferry 
to Long Island, and then had an eight mile horseback 
ride to reach Brooklyn and the ferry to Xew York. " As 
soon as we landed we went and agreed for our lodgings 
with a Dutch woman named Schuyler, and then I went to 
see Mr. Andrew Freneau at his house, and he received 
me very well, after which I went to the tavern, and about 



374 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Seeing the 
Town 



Philadelphia 



The Family 

Plantation 

Established 



ten at night to my lodgings and to bed. ' ' Next day lie 
waited upon Governor Hunter, who invited him to dine ; 
thence to see the mayor, who kindly received him. 
Next day he rode about seven miles out of town to 
Colonel Morris's, "Who lives in the country, and is 
judge or chief justice of this province, a very sensible 
and good man." Next day he saw the town. "There 
are three churches, the English, the French, and the 
Dutch Church ; there is also a place for the Assembly to 
sit, which is not very fine, and where they judge all 
matters. The town is compact, the houses for the most 
part built after the Dutch manner, with the gable ends 
towards the street." "The French have all the privi- 
leges that can be, and are the most in number here, they 
are of the Council and of the Parliament, and are in all 
other employments." He was dined and wined with 
true hospitality by the Irish Club, the French Club, and 
various friends he made, including Mr. Hamilton, the 
postmaster-general. 

From New York he went to Philadelphia, going to 
church in Amboy, New Jersey, on the way. Philadelphia 
he found built very regularly upon rising ground on the 
Delaware River. "The inhabitants are most jjart Qua- 
kers, and they have several good meetings, and there are 
also some English churches." He had a letter to Mr. 
Samuel Perez, but says "He had no service for me." 
Then they continued the overland journey to Virginia, 
much of the way through wild territory, in which they 
had some exciting experiences with robbers. 

Then Peter his brother arrived from England, and the 
work of establishing the plantation .in King William 
County proceeded. Peter was a preacher, and was soon 
presented to Roanoke parish. Another brother, James, 
with his family, arrived in the autumn of the same year, 
1717, and the next year his brother-in-law, Mr, Matthew 
Maury, with his family, completed the party. All had 
to go through chills and fever in the process of acclima- 



EXPEEIENCES OF AN EXILED FAMILY 375 

tization, and Peter suffered greatly from this cause. He 
returned to England in 1719 for a visit. 

VII 

After the Fontaines emigrated to Virginia, they were 
in the habit of meeting annually, to hold a solemn re- p^^^^ 
ligious thanksgiving, in commemoration of their remark- Reunion 
able preservation when attacked by French privateers in 
the south of Ireland. A sermon preached by Eev. Peter 
Fontaine, on one of these occasions, is preserved, bearing 
date of 1st June, 1723, text, Eom. 15 : 5, 6. His three 
points are : Firstly, The duty here enjoined, that is, to 
glorify God. Secondly, The manner of performing it, 
that is, with one mind and one mouth. And Thirdly, 
Put you in mind of your high obligations to comply with 
this duty, not only because of the signal deliverance 
which we are met to celebrate, but by reason of that 
infinite number which God hath vouchsafed to favour us 
with at other times, no less worthy of our remembrance 
and thanks. 

A distinguished son of this famous family was Matthew 
Fontaine Maury, "The Pathfinder of the Seas." He Matthew 

•^ ' Fontaine 

was born in Spottsylvania County in 1806. He became a Maury 

midshipman in the navy at nineteen, but his career as an 

active officer was cut short by an accident which lamed 

him for life. After that he devoted himself to study, and 

his contributions to useful knowledge have been excelled 

by those of no man of his time. He was the founder of 

the modern science of hydrography. His great work, 

"The Physical Geography of the Sea," published in Founder of 

^ f^ IT J 7 X- Hydrography 

1856, made him at once world famous ; it was the pio- 
neer ventm^e in a new field, and though new facts have 
been and will be added to our store of knowledge of ocean 
winds and currents, it will always be remembered that 
Maury " blazed the trail." He was the first to plot out 
the path of the Gulf Stream ; he originated the system of Deep sea 
deep sea sounding ; he was the first to suggest the laying °"" "^ 



376 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

Ocean Cables of oceanic cables ; he organized the system of crop obser- 
vation which has proved of such countless value ; and in 
a hundred other ways that are not sensational did he 
labour to benefit mankind. If sheer usefulness were the 
universal test applied to greatness, Matthew Fontaine 
Maury, next to George Washington, would be the great- 
est Virginian. 




PAET FOUR 
THE FRENCH IN VARIOUS RELATIONS 



CHAPTER I 



AMERICA'S DEBT TO FRANCE DURING THE 
REVOLUTION 



W 



HILE in oue sense not strictly germane to our 
subject, it is certainly fitting to recognize here a Most 

J-. ■ . -. 1,, ^ . Valuable Ally 

tne immeasurable debt of gratitude which 
America owes to France for the aid given to the young 
Republic in its War for Independence. This aid it was 
that undoubtedly enabled us to gain the victory that put 
a new nation on the world's map ; a nation that was to 
be the first to set the example of true democracy, and to 
start that great idea of political equality which during 
the nineteenth century brought the peof»le of nearly every 
nation in Europe to a consciousness of their power, and 
largely to their rightful place in government. It is the 
judgment of most historians that France turned the scale 
in favour of the colonies in their unequal struggle. It 
was when the American cause was seemingly hopeless, 
when there was no national credit, that France gave 
recognition and espousal to our cause. It matters not 
what were the controlling motives which led the French 
government to take the American side. The result was 
in the interest of humanity and of right. 

Not only did the French government give recognition Lafayette the 
and financial aid at a time when these were invaluable, Liberty 
but some of the best blood of France came over to render 

377 



378 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

personal assistance in the field. As for the motives that 
impelled the foremost among them, the young and gallant 
Marquis de Lafayette, to leave courtly luxury and ease 
for camp life in a strange land, no one questions their 
purity and unselfishness. He is taken at his own words 
when he tells us his "heart was enlisted" when he 
''heard of American independence." We shall not for- 
get what a comfort this young French nobleman was to 
Washington, who needed just such inspiration and com- 
panionship as Lafayette could give. Washington, who 
was not given to overpraise, said of him, ' ' This noble 
soldier combines all the military fire of youth with an 
unusual maturity of judgment." The American com- 
mander-in-chief relied uiDon this French officer as upon 
few men, and the friendship between them was one of the 
fine outgrowths of the war. On Lafayette's side there 
was the deference and courtesy not only born of his ex- 
quisite breeding, but of an intense admiration for a char- 
acter whose greatness he appreciated from the first ; while 
Washington also found much to admire in the brilliant 
young soldier and true gentleman who was as devoted as 
himself to the cause of human freedom. More than once 
the American commander had reason to be out of humour 
with some of the French officers, who assumed too much 
by reason of their rank at home ; but Lafayette was his 
comfort and dependence, always to be counted upon in 
an emergency. 
Lafayette in After the war Lafayette continued to render all the aid 

the French "^ 

Revolution in his powcr to the Eepublic he had helped establish. A 
man of influence in his own country, he co-operated with 
the American diplomats, and was a steadfast friend until 
France came to her Revolution, and his hopes for such 
liberty there as the American Republic knew seemed for- 
ever blasted. A recent writer ' gives an account of the 
later years of Lafayette's life, and of the honours paid to 

' Augustus E. Ingram, deputy consul of the United States in Paris. 



AMERICA'S DEBT TO FRANCE 379 

his memory by Americans. ' ' When we visit the grave 
of Lafayette in the remote and obscure little burying 
ground of the Barnes Blanches, in the eastern fringe of 
Paris," he says, "we are reminded of the sad, dark 
years that came later in his life, and the unpretentious 
tomb of his wife, close beside her husband's, tells of her 
heroic share in his sufferings." 

II 

Soon after Lafayette's return to France, the Revolution 
broke forth, and he took an active part in it. But he 
was too republican to suit the aristocrats and too moder- 
ate to suit the revolutionists. Denounced by the Jacobins, 
he was obliged to flee from France, but was captured by 
the Austrians, and confined in the damp, dark dungeons 
of Olmutz. Meanwhile in Paris the Reign of Terror was 
running its coiu-se. Among its victims was Madame de Heroism of 
Lafayette, who was thrown into prison, partly because La^flyTtte*^^ 
she was the daughter of the Duke d' Ayen, partly because 
she refused to disown her husband. Still more terrible 
was the fate of her mother and sister, who perished under 
the guillotine. The scene of their execution is not far 
from the spot where Lafayette lies buried. 

After the downfall and death of Robespierre, Madame 
de Lafayette was released and soon succeeded in finding 
her husband's Austrian prison. Refused permission to 
see him unless she shared his captivity, she accepted 
heroically these harsh terms. The damp, unwholesome 
dungeon soon seriously affected her health, but as she 
could only escape at the cost of separation from her hus- 
band, she declined to leave, preferring to sacrifice her 
life. When the devoted pair had endured five years 
of imprisonment, Napoleon secured their release, but 
Madame de Lafayette was liberated only in time to die a 
free woman. In 1815 Louis XVIII granted to the 
families of the victims of the Revolution the right to be 
buried near their martyred relatives. Thus the little 



380 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Bartholdi's 
Statue 



cemetery of the Dames Blanches came into existence, since 
it was near the old quarry where thirteen hundred vic- 
tims were buried, and there Madame de Lafayette's body 
was placed. Later her noble husband was laid by her 
side, and their son, George Washington Lafayette, is 
buried near by. 

America does not forget Lafayette. His name lives in 
our history closely associated with that of the great 
American chief whom he venerated. As Decoration Day 
rolls around each year, Americans in Paris make a pil- 
grimage to the little cemetery and place flowers upon the 
tomb of the hero, and words of appreciation are spoken. 
In our own country there are statues of him in the 
public squares of many of our large cities. Nor are 
there wanting tokens of American appreciation in the 
French capital itself. In the quiet, picturesque little 
Flace des ^tats-Vnis (Place or Square of the United 
States), under the shady chestnut trees, stands a beautiful 
bronze group by Bartholdi, the same French sculptor who 
designed the colossal statue of "Liberty Enlightening 
the World," which graces New York harbour, represent- 
ing Washington and Lafayette, hand in hand, with the 
flags of the two republics entwined, and an inscription 
reading : 

" Hommage a la France, en reconnaissance de son gcnereux 
concours dans la lutte du peuple des Mats- Unis pour V Inde- 
pendance et la Liberie.''^ 

(Homage to France, in recognition of her generous aid 
in the struggle of the people of the United States for in- 
dependence and liberty, ) 



Tribute of 
American 
School 
Children 



in 

Some years ago some five million school children of 
America contributed their pennies for the erection of an- 
other statue of Lafayette in Paris. The French govern- 
ment gave a site in the gardens of the Louvre, and during 
the summer of the exposition of 1900 the unveiling of a 



AMEBIC A' S DEBT TO FRANCE 381 

staff model of the j)roposed statue was made the occasion 
of great rejoicing and the manifestation of friendship 
between the sister republics. Paul Wayland Bartlett, 
an American sculptor, was commissioned to design the 
statue, and most effectively he has executed his work. 

While Lafayette was by no means the only Frenchman 
who served in the Rebellion, his is the conspicuous name, 
as his was the most consecrated spirit, and it is not nec- 
essary to particularize concerning others. They were all 
bra^'e and competent men, who were astonished at the 
quality of manhood they found in the little-trained and 
half-equipped colonials, every one of whom had imbibed 
the spirit of independence, and was able to fight on his 
own initiative when necessary, instead of being military 
puppets like the ordinary European soldier. 

It is one of the strange providences of history that the 
nation which thrust forth its Protestant citizens and thus 
weakened itself immeasurably among the world powers, 
should have been the means of materially assisting in the 
establishment of the greatest Protestant nation and one 
of the foremost world powers. Roman Catholicism could 
drive out of France her best people, but it could not 
plant successful and permanent colonies in America, nor 
long keep adv^antages momentarily gained. Nor is the 
day far distant, if the signs of the times count for any- 
thing, when France will read the lessons of her own his- 
tory, and secure her own future by becoming a land 
where religious liberty shall be as dearly prized as in our 
own. That will mean a Protestant nation as the only 
progressive one. 

While the noble Lafayette, who rendered such ines- Lafayette a 
timable service to the cause of American liberty, was not fh^e^Pr^o't°est°/ 
of Huguenot blood or creed, he was nevertheless in sym- 
pathy with the cause of religious liberty, and became its 
advocate at a critical j^eriod. When he had returned to 
France, crowned with the laurels he had won in the 
American struggle for independence, and imbued with 



ants 



382 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

the spirit of the Americau people, he was stirred at the 
coudition of affairs iu the homeland, and at once became 
a zealous pleader for the oppressed Huguenots. He ar- 
gued with all his eloquence the right of the Protestants 
at least to be permitted to marry and to die according to 
their faith. His efforts were not successful at that time, 
but, true to his high character, he cared nothing for the 
obloquy which his stand brought upon him from the ec- 
clesiastics. It is probable that he would have gained the 
amount of liberty he sought for the Protestants had not 
the clergy exhorted the king in opposition. Not daunted 
at this failure, Lafayette again in the Assembly of Nota- 
bles pleaded for the heretics, and was now more favourably 
listened to. He was even seconded in his just and fair 
propositions by the Bishop de Laugres, and a petition was 
Civil Rightp presented to the king. As a result an edict was regis- 
tered which secured the Protestants in their civil rela- 
tions, after nearly two centuries of bloodshed. The bigots 
of course denounced the bishop as anti- Christ, and spared 
no abuse or defamation of Lafayette for using his domi- 
nant influence to secure this act of simple justice. After 
the Eevolution, which was the inevitable outcome of con- 
ditions that had made such continued persecution of the 
Huguenots possible iu France, Napoleon granted religious 
toleration, although Roman Catholicism remained as the 
State Church. After another century, in which the 
church has been as of old the enemy of political and re- 
ligious liberty, the French government has broken with 
Rome, and the Republic will probably see to it that re- 
ligious liberty shall henceforth be actual, and every form 
of religious persecution cease. 



CHAPTEE II 
THE LOUISIANA PUECHASE 

NEXT to the debt America owes Frauce for her a Rich and 
aid in the Eevolutiou is the gratitude due her xwrttory 
Emperor Napoleon for the sale of the Louisiana 
territory to the United States. While the first aid helped 
us put a new nation on the map, it was the second that 
enabled us to own territory that was indispensable to the 
United States if she was to be the predominant power on 
the American continent. Until that purchase oui' gov- 
ernment was hemmed in on all sides. England had Can- 
ada on the north, and was likely very soon to take from 
France the Louisiana territory just as she had taken 
from France her Canadian possessions. With England 
in possession of this great section on our western boun- 
dary, with Spain still on the south and in the far west, it 
would have been easy for England to gain the ascendancy 
on the continent after all, and the United States would 
have covered but a small portion of the North American 
continent. 

We must realize this in order to estimate what vast 
service Napoleon rendered us when for his own selfish 
purposes he consummated the Louisiana Purchase for a 
sum amazingly small in comparison with the value of the 
territory. He needed money, it is true, and twenty-two 
millions were something. The amount indeed loomed 
large to the American commissioners, who were not au- 
thorized to enter into any such financial engagement. 
But it was not the money that chiefly influenced Napo- 
leon. He had good reason to believe that England would 
soon drive out the French and seize the territory, and he 
desired to have the United States rather than England 

383 



384 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



The Greatest 
Land Sale in 
History 



The Field 



enter into possession of it. It is an interesting fact that 
he was doubtless influenced in his decision by Marbois, 
one of the two commissioners whom he appointed to treat 
with the American representatives. Marbois had an 
American wife, and he radically favoured the sale ; while 
Talleyrand as vigorously opposed it. 

By this purchase, the most stupendous land transfer in 
history, the United States was placed in position subse- 
quently to acquire the Spanish region, and thus to gain 
its present territorial proportions. There are now four- 
teen populous and prosperous states of the Union com- 
prised within this section, which includes a large part of 
the world's granary. Jefferson did buy a wilderness, but 
it has been made to blossom as the rose. Prosperous and 
populous cities and towns exist where in 1803 natm"e and 
the savage held sway, and the ' ' wilderness ' ' contains 
nearly one-fifth of the 80,000,000 of our people. There 
are thi-ee times as many people in the Louisiana Pui'chase 
now as there were in the whole United States when the 
sale was completed, and the centre of population as of po- 
litical and industrial power is fast moving towards the 
Mississippi. The state of Missouri alone has more peo- 
ple than the thirteen colonies had when they won their 
independence. St. Louis, a single city, has more inhab- 
itants to-day than New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and 
all other cities of the country put together in 1800. Then 
think of such centres of wealth, industry and culture as 
Denver, Omaha, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Sioux City, 
Kansas City, with the host of smaller but not less pro- 
gressive cities and towns. 

Such has been the field opened up to commerce and in- 
dustry. Under the homestead laws a vast number of 
immigrants swept into this region, in addition to the 
thousands attracted from the eastern section. When we 
realize that other nations have furnished us with 22,000,- 
000 of their people since 1820, and 16,000,000 of these 
since 1862, the year in which President Lincoln signed 



THE LOUISIANA PUECHASE 385 

the significant homestead act, we shall see what a complex 
population has to be dealt with in the Louisiana Pur- 
chase, as well as in the great cities of our land. But for- 
tunately, the assimilation of foreign elements is far easier 
and quicker on the prairies than in the cities. While it 
is true that in the Louisiana Pui'chase there is the great- 
est number of languages heard anywhere, and that a large 
percentage of the population in the various states had its 
nativity in other countries, it is also true that nowhere 
else could be found such rapid Americanization of all 
these diverse elements. 

And here once more we note the overrulings of Provi- Protestantism 

"^ Dominant 

dence. This Louisiana Purchase was opened up to civ- 
ilization by the Jesuit missionaries who made their way 
down the Mississippi, bent on converting the Indians and 
establishing a new France, Roman Catholic and free from 
any Protestant taint, in America. Many of these pioneers 
were brave and self-sacrificing men, who gave their lives 
for the cause. But every attempt to keep out the Protes- 
tants failed : and it was with the opening of the region to 
the same religious light and liberty enjoyed in the older 
states that progress came and a new civilization. As 
with Roman Catholic France, so with Roman Catholic 
Spain. Neither nation found it possible to keep the 
advantage gained by priority of possession ; both were 
gradually conquered and compelled to withdraw before 
the Anglo-Saxon, who represented in religion the very 
antipodes of the spirit of the Latin and Roman Catholic 
peoples. In this he who will may see the hand of God, 
working out human destiny along the lines of true relig- 
ious and political liberty. Since Protestantism is demo- 
cratic in its essential principles, it must prevail in a 
democracy. Autocracy in America is no more possible 
in religion than in government. 



CHAPTEE III 
THE FRENCH IN FREEMASONRY 



Patriots in "T" T was perhaps natural that the French Protestants 

Freemasonry ■, 

who came to America should be favourable to Free- 



I 



masonry, this being an institution that had been put 
under the ban by the same Roman Catholic Church which 
had so bitterly oppressed them and driven them into 
exile. Aside from this, there was everything in the spirit 
of the ancient fraternity that would appeal to them. 
Hence there are many names of distinguished Huguenot 
families in the Masonic rolls of the period of the Revolu- 
tion, as in the rolls of later days. 

Freemasonry in this country early took high rank from 
the character of the leaders who wore the lambskin apron. 
It was enough to establish its worth in the estimation of 
multitudes that George Washington was a Freemason and 
was proud of the fact. He was not alone in this regard 
among the leaders during the Revolutionary period. 
Albert Gallatin, Paul Revere, the Boston patriot, General 
Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, Francis Marion, 
the intrepid South Carolina cavalryman, DeSaussure, and 
many others of equal patriotism and loyalty, were mem- 
bers of the order. The French officers, who came to aid 
in our struggle for Independence, under the lead of the 
noble Lafayette, in most instances became Freemasons 
while here. General Lafayette, with his son, George 
Washington Lafayette, and his companion. Colonel La 
Vasseur, all Freemasons, visited Fredericksburg, Vir- 
ginia, November 27, 1824. This visit was made the oc- 
casion of a grand reception. The general was escorted 
into the town by hundreds of mounted militia, with mar- 

386 



THE FEENCH IN FEEEMASONRY 387 

tial music, amid the greatest display and wildest enthusi- 
asm on the part of the people. On the following day, 
Lafayette was made an honourary member of the Freder- 
icksbiu'g Lodge, which was organized in 1752. This 
lodge has the honour of being General George Washing- 
ton's " Parent Lodge," and the records state that on the 
fourth day of November, A. L., 5752, the "light of 
Freemasonry ' ' first burst upon his sight. Visitors to the 
library of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, A. F. & 
A. M., in the Masonic Temple, Boston, look with deep 
interest upon the Masonic relics treasured there. Among 
them is a Masonic apron worn by the Marquis de Lafay- 
ette at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill 
Monument, June 17, 1825. Thus, among the other at- 
tachments which bound the gallant Frenchman so closely 
to Washington were the ties of Masonic brotherhood. 
Another apron to be seen in the Temple, is one that was 
worn by General Oliver, of Boston, at a lodge meeting 
when General Washington was present. 

It is an interesting fact that the French Lodge, Lodge 
L^Amenite, in Philadelphia, was the first to hold a lodge PhtiTdeTphia 
of sorrow in this country, and did so upon the death of 
Washington in December, 1799. This French Lodge was 
chartered by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and in- 
cluded in its membership a large number of Huguenot 
descendants, one of whom, Simon Chaudron, delivered 
before the lodge a funeral oration on George Washington, 
on January 1, 1800. He said in part : 

A new spectacle bursts on the eye of philosophy. The whole uni- oration on 
verse perhaps, for the first time, will unite in offering a tribute of Washington 
gratitude to the memory of a mortal . . . the modest Hero, 
whom impartial truth this day proclaims the defender of the human 
race. . . . He took up arms only for the defense of the soil that 
gave him birth, and only to prevent its devastation. It was without 
doubt that, then fighting against Frenchmen, he learnt what powerful 
aid might be derived from that brave and generous nation for the es- 
tablishment of liberty in the new world. . . . To us Frenchmen, 



388 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

who have been so kindly received on these peaceful shores, it belongs 
to pay distinguished respect to the wisdom of the Hero whom we de- 
plore ; we, whom cruel fate has torn from our homes, without suffer- 
ing us to carry away anything but tears and our innocence, to interest 
the pity of mankind, should ever hold him in grateful remembrance. 



II 

Modern Freemasonry owes more than is commonly 
known to the Huguenot blood. The records show that 
the four "Immemorial Lodges," which established the 
Grand Lodge of England, June 24, 1717, had for their 
G^rand Lodge leading spirits James Anderson, a Scotch Presbyterian 
1717 minister of London, and John Theophilus Desaguliers, 

LL. D. , of Christ Church, Oxford, a French Huguenot, and 
the son of a clergyman. He was a Fellow of the Royal 
Society, and engaged so earnestly in the "revival" and 
promotion of Freemasonry that he deserves the title of 
" The father of modern speculative Freemasom-y." The 
present Grand Lodge of England, which was instituted in 
London in 1717, is largely indebted to him for its exist- 
ence. In 1719 Desaguliers was elevated to the throne of 
the Grand Lodge. He did much to make Freemasonrj^ a 
living institution for the good of humanity, and his learn- 
ing and social position gave a prominence to the order 
which brought to its support noblemen and other men of 
influence. With others he instituted the "Plan of 
Charity," which was subsequently developed into what is 
now known in the Grand Lodge of England as the "Fund 
of Benevolence." It was from the union of these four 
lodges that the Fraternity spread into Scotland and Ire- 
land and then to the Continent — France, Germany and 
Italy. In Germany, Frederick the Great became Grand 
Master and constituted lodges. In Italy, the affiliation 
with Freemasonry of the great leaders, Garibaldi, Cavour, 
Mazzini and Victor Emmanuel, who were active in the 
abolition of the temporal power of the papacy and the 
establishment of the kingdom of Italy, was one of the 



THE FEENCH IN FEEEMASOKRY 389 

facts which caused a renewal of the attacks of the Eoman 
Catholic Church upon Freemasonry. 

Ill 

America was froutiered and bulwarked with the spirit The order in 
of Freemasonry. A recent writer says : ^'Out from its ^""^""^^ 
living heart sprung those principles and sentiments of 
true liberty and impartial laws which led to the formula- 
tion of the Declaration of Independence. Our Eevolu- 
tionary fathers held Freemasomy as their Egeria. Its 
fires purified their patriotic hearts. Franklin shed the 
luster of his glowing name upon it. It actuated the 
spirit of Paul Eevere on his midnight ride, and its im- 
passioned voice swelled from Bunker Hill to Mount 
Vernon in links of fraternal patriotism. Very many of Freemasons 
the generals of the American Eevolution were Brothers of '" ^^'' 
the Mystic Tie. Many of those distinguished men who 
signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitu- 
tion of the United States were members of the Fraternity. 
The important part Freemasonry played in the struggle 
for liberty, and the debt of gratitude our glorious Ee- 
public owes to the Fraternity, are to-day little known out- 
side the Craft, and but vaguely comprehended by the 
rank and file within it. Its principles were woven into 
the warp and woof of our Constitution. The name of 
Washington stands out in bold relief on the Masonic 
roster of the United States. He was a type of the order 
which numbers among its members the best and noblest 
in the world." 

One of the fundamental principles of Freemasonry is Freemasonry 
that of religious liberty. Out of this principle grows the 
absolute separation of Church and State which is a fun- 
damental principle of our government. It is this prin- 
ciple which has called down upon Freemasonry the papal 
decrees, which forbid any Eoman Catholic to join this 
Fraternity on penalty of excommunication. The spirit of 
Freemasonry is exactly that of the French Protestants and 



390 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

the English Puritans and Pilgrims — the spirit that 
founded our free Eepublic, in which freedom of conscience 
is recognized. Here there is not merely toleration for the 
varying religious views, but in matters of opinion all are 
free and equal. Hence there has been a close union be- 
tween Protestantism and Freemasonry — both standing for 
civil and religious liberty and the rights of man. 

One of the strong defenses of Freemasonry was called 
forth by the Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo XIII against 
'' Freemasonry and the Spirit of the Age," dated April 
20, 1884, The unwarranted charges made in this official 
letter against Freemasonry were answered by " A Eeply 
Lib^rty°^*°^ of Frecmasoury in behalf of Humanity," from the Su- 
preme Council, thirty-third degree, of the Ancient 
Accepted Scottish Eite of Freemasonry, for the Southern 
Jurisdiction of the United States of America, through 
Albert Pike, Grand Commander. We quote from his 
Allocution these forcible words : 

If the Encyclical Letter of Leo XIII, entitled, from its opening 
words, Humarms Genus, had been nothing more than a denunciation of 
Freemasonry, I should not have thought it worth replying to. But 
under the guiae of a condemnation of Freemasonry, and a recital of 
the enormities and immoralities of the order, in some respects so ab- 
surdly false as to be ludicrous, notwithstanding its malignity, it 
proved to be a declaration of war, and the signal for a crusade, against 
the rights of men individually and of communities of men as organ- 
isms ; against the separation of Church and State, and the confinement 
of the church within the limits of its legitimate functions ; against 
education free from sectarian influences ; against the great doctrine 
upon which, as upon a rock not to be shaken, the foundations of our 
Eepublic rest, that "men are superior to institutions and not institu- 
tions to men " ; against the right of the people to depose oppressive, 
cruel and worthless rulers ; against the exercise of the rights of free 
thought and free speech, and against, not only republican, but all con- 
stitutional government. 

In the eye of the Papacy it is a crime to belong to an Order thus 

Liberty of constituted requiring only belief in God and immortality, and allow- 

Crime ^°g ^^^11 liberty of conscience in religious belief ; and this the letter of 

Pope Leo preaches to Boman Catholica living in a Republic, the very 



THE FEENCH IN FEEEMASONRY 391 

corner-stone of which is religious toleration, and which was peopled in 
large measure, at first, by Puritans, Quakers, Church of England men, 
and Huguenots. 

The gist of the Pope's charge, and the reason for chief dread of its 
spread among Roman Catholics, may be found in the statement of the 
Encyclical, that Freemasonry exerts itself for this purpose, that the 
rule of the Church should be of no weight, that its authority should be 
as nothing in the State ; and for this reason they everywhere assert 
and insist that sacred and civil ought to be wholly distinct. By this 
they exclude the most wholesome virtue of the Roman Catholic relig- 
ion from the laws and administration of a country ; and the conse- 
quence is that they think whole States ought to be constituted outside 
of the institutes and precepts of the church. 

In other words, the Roman Church protests against that fundamen- 
tal principle of constitutional government, dear above almost all else 
to the people of the United States, that Church and State should act 
each within its proper sphere, and that with the civil government and 
political administration of affairs the Church should have nothing to 
do. The people of the United States do not propose to argue that with 
the Church of Borne. 

IV 

The first permanent foothold of Freemasonry in North First Lodge in 
America was made in the town of Boston, Mass., in the 
year 1733. It was then that under a dispensation issued 
by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England to 
Henry Price, Esq., of Boston, the First Lodge of Boston 
and the Saint John's Grand Lodge were instituted. 

The records of the First Lodge — now called St. John's 
Lodge — and of the other eai-ly lodges in Boston, disclose 
a large number of Huguenot names. The following 
names of brethren, evidently of Huguenot blood, are 
drawn from the lists of members of St. John's lodge, with 
the year of taking membership affixed. 



Boston 1733 



Philip Aitdibert, 


1741. 


Nicholas Faucon, 


1805. 


Belthazar Bayard, 


1748. 


Thomas J. Gruchy, 


1742, 


Francis Beteilhe, 


1734. 


Francis Johonot, 


1742. 


Nathaniel Bethune, 


1736. 


William Joy, 


1742. 


John Boutin, 


1743. 


Gabriel Johonot, 


1780. 


Samuel Cazeneau, 


1800. 


John Joy, 


1762. 



392 



TMJjJ FKE^CH BLOOD IX AMERICA 



Lewis DeBlois, 


1753. 


Louis A. Lauriat, 


1819, 


Stephen DeBlois, 


1737. 


James Montier, 


1739. 


Alexander Delavoux, 


1739. 


John Nappier, 


1739. 


Lewis Dolobartz, 


1744. 


John Odin, 


1750. 


Philip Dumaresque, 


1764. 


Andrew Oliver, 


1740. 


Thomas Durfey, 


1740. 


Francis J. Oliver, 


180O. 


Peter Fabre, 


1780. 


Peter Oliver, 


1749. 


Nicholas Farritoe, 


1748. 


Thomas Vavasour, 


1748. 



Luke Vardy, 1734. 



Lodge of 
St. Andrew 
Boston 1756 



Francis J. Oliver, 1800, was a Harvard graduate, an 
eminent merchant and banker, a member of the Legisla- 
ture, and president of the American Insurance Company 
and of the City Bank. He was M. W. Grand Master of 
Masons in Massachusetts during three years, 1817-1819. 

The Lodge of St. Andrew, in Boston, was chartered by 
the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1756. The lists of mem- 
bers of this Lodge present the names of many members 
of Huguenot blood, among whom are the following : 



Isaiah Audiberfc, 


1777. 


Peter Nogues, Jr., 


1766. 


John Boit, 


1780. 


Israel Obear, 


1761. 


Gibbons Bouv6, 


1773. 


James Oliver, 


1782. 


Edward Cailleteau, 


1763. 


Thomas Oliver. 


1776. 


Isaac DeCosta, 


1756. 


William Palfrey, 


1761. 


John DeCosta, 


1768. 


St. DeMertiuo Pry, 


1779. 


"William Darracott, 


1766. 


Col. Henry Purkitt 




Moses Deshon, 


1761. 


(Purruquet), 


1799. 


George DeFrance, 


1782. 


Paul Revere, 


1761. 


Philip Lewis, 


1757. 


Rev. James Sabine, 


1823. 


Philip Marett, 


1762. 


Andrew Sigourney, 


1766. 


Benjamin Mayhew, 


1769. 


Andrew Sigourney, 


1794. 


Robert Molineux, 


1793. 


Elisha Sigourney, 1' 


;89. 



Andrew 
Sigourney 



In this Lodge's records appears the name of Fosdick, 
1768, which links the author's family with the Huguenot 
exiles, and in some measure explains his personal interest 
in the subject of which this volume treats. 

It is a noteworthy fact that Andrew Sigourney, 1794, 
was the founder of the first benevolent fund of its kind 



THE FRENCH IN FEEEMASONRY 393 

established by Freemasons. When he was Grand Treas- 
urer of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1810-19, he 
gave his last year's salary, amounting to one hundred 
and seventy dollars, to found a Charity Fund for the 
Fraternity, to be used for the benefit of its members, or 
of widows and orphans, in case of need. 

V 

The name of Paul Revere is as familiar to the Paul Revere 
present generation as household words. His Masonic 
career began in the Lodge of St. Andrew in 1761. In 
1782 he was a charter member of a new Lodge which 
took the name of " Rising States." He was Grand Mas- 
ter of Masons in Massachusetts for three years, 1795-1797, 
during which time he signed the charters of twenty- 
three new Lodges, all of which are now in existence ex- 
cept two. 

Of Paul Revere as a Freemason, this is said by Charles 
Ferris Gettemy, in The True Story of Paul Revere, just 
issued : "In none of the civic activities of the time was 
he more prominent than in the affairs of the Masonic fra- 
ternity. One of the most eminent and widely known 
Masons of the Revolutionary era, he, in the lan- 
guage of a Masonic eulogist (G. Ellis Reed, W. M. of 
Revere Lodge), ' served his country and his beloved Fra- 
ternity with a spirit that should inspire every Brother ; 
a spirit composed of the three great essentials, freedom, 
fervency, and zeal.' ' In the Green Dragon Tavern,' says 
E. Bentley Young in his oration at the Centennial cele- 
bration of Columbian Lodge in 1895, ' where he first saw 
Masonic light, he met his patriotic Brethren in secrecy to 
devise means for impeding the operations of the British, 
then in possession of the city. Masonry and patriotism 
were identified in his person and in those of his compa- 
triots who met him in retirement. ' 

"Entering Masonry through St. Andrew's Lodge, Sep- 
tember 4, 1760, he maintained a zealous interest in the 



394 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

affairs of the fraternity for the temainder of his life, fill- 
ing the high office of Grand Master of the Massachusetts 
Grand Lodge in 1795, 1796, and 1797. One of the most 
picturesque ceremonials of his career, and indeed of the 
early years of the constitutional history of Massachusetts, 
occurred during the first term of his grand mastership : 
the laying of the corner-stone of the new State House — 
the ' Bullfinch front ' as it was called in later years — on 
Beacon Hill. The authorities having requested the 
Masonic Order to participate in the dedication exercises, 
the various lodges assembled in the Representatives' Hall 
of the Old State House on State Street, and, with the 
state officials, marched to the Old South Meeting House, 
where an oration appropriate to the occasion was deliv- 
ered by George Blake. These exercises over, the proces- 
sion re-formed and marched to Beacon Hill. Arriving 
at the site of the new capitol, the stone, being duly 
squared, levelled, and plumbed. Governor Samuel Adams 
made a brief address, to which Grand Master Revere for 
the Masons responded : 

" ' Worshipfull Brethren. I congratulate you on this auspicious day; 
— when the Arts and Sciences are establishing themselves in our happy 
country, a Country distinguished from the rest of the World, by being 
a Government of Laws, where Liberty has found a safe and secure 
abode, and where her sons are determined to support and protect her. 
Brethren, we are called this day by our honourable & patriotic Gov- 
ernor, his Excellency Samuel Adams, to assist in laying the corner- 
stone of a building to be erected for the use of the Legislative and 
Executive branches of Government of this Commonwealth. May we, 
my Brethren, so square our actions thro life as to show to the World 
of Mankind, that we mean to live within the compass of Good Citi- 
zens, that we wish to stand upon a level with them, that when we 
part we may be admitted into the Temple where Reigns Silence and 
Peace.' " 

'' It is utterly impossible," commented the unenterpris- 
ing Columbian Centinel, " to do justice to the scene which 
presented itself on this brilliant occasion," 

When Washington retired to private life the Grand 



THE FEENCH IN FEEEMASONEY 395 

Lodge of Massachusetts sent him a fraternal greeting 
signed by Grand Master Eevere, and upon his death the 
Massachusetts Masons arranged a mock funeral parade, 
Eevere being one of the pall -bearers. A memorial urn 
carried in the procession was cared for many years by 
Eevere at his home. Eevere, with John Warren and 
Josiah Bartlett, sent a letter on behalf of the Grand 
Lodge dated January 11, 1800, to the widow of Washing- 
ton, requesting a lock of the dead statesman's hair, to be 
kept as an " invaluable relique of the Hero and Patriot." 
The request was granted, and the memento has remained 
to this day one of the cherished possessions of the Grand 
Lodge, preserved in a golden urn made by Paul Eevere. 

Friendship Lodge, instituted in Boston in 1793, con- Friendship 

'^ ' Lodge Boston 

tained a considerable French element. One of the Mas- 1793 
ters of the Lodge was Le Barbier Du Plessis, whose name 
revives memories of that great Huguenot Prime Minister 
who would have saved France from shame and loss had 
the King but followed his advice instead of that given by 
the ecclesiastics. Other members of Friendship Lodge 
were Le Charles Descard, Preslin Janeau, George de 
France, M. D., Sy. Prea, John Beteau, and Messrs. 
Truene, D' Amour and Jeaureau. 

John Jutau became the Master of Perfect Union perfect union 
Lodge, instituted in 1781, which was distinctively a i^sf ^^ Boston 
French Lodge. In 1785, Mr. Jutau was Senior Grand 
Warden of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, in which 
were enrolled also the names of William Truan, Andrew 
Demarest, Dr. St. Medard, Peter La Mercier, and others. 

There was still another Lodge, the Harmonic, instituted 
December 8, 1792, but it was not exclusively French. 
The first Master was George Gideon. 

Lewis Frederick Delesdernier was a member of Warren 
Lodge in Machias, Maine. The Lodge was instituted 
September 10, 1778. His parents were Huguenots. He 
was visited by Albert Gallatin in 1780. 

The Huguenots who settled in Boston, as earlier chapters 



396 THE. FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

have made clear, became citizens of influence and much 
respectability. Some of them were leaders in the mercan- 
tile, social and religious circles. Here they entered into 
an atmosphere of liberty and opportunity which they 
wisely used. They established themselves so firmly and 
well in this community that their descendants — men of 
integrity and influence — remain to this day. In the town 
of Boston, and later in the city, as well as in the Masonic 
Lodges, to which so many of them belonged, they were 
active and useful, being ever outspoken and zealous on 
the side of toleration, liberty and equality. 

L'Amenite Lodge, No. 73, Philadelphia 

February 22, 1800, was a day set apart by Congress as 
a ''Washington Day" throughout the United States. It 
was observed in Philadelphia by the Freemasons. Nine 
lodges participated in the exercises at Philadelphia. 
L' Amenite Lodge, No. 73, held a special open lodge of its 
own and Brother Simon Chaudrou was the orator. The 
lodge was appropriately draped, and a catafalqiie in the 
centre of the lodge room was surrounded by 300 lights. 

L' Amenite Lodge was organized by French refugees, 
and chartered May 20, 1797. Its first officers were : 
W. M. — Tanguy de la Beissiere ; S. W.— Gabriel De- 
combaz ; J. W. — Armand Caignet. Among the members 
were Abbe La Grange, Belin Gardette, and Simon 
Chaudron, the orator of February 22, 1800. Chaudron 
delivered his address in the presence of the Grand Lodge 
of Pennsylvania, and it was the first Masonic eulogy, in 
the French language, that was ever sj)oken upon Washing- 
ton. The address was printed in the French and English 
languages. In view of the strained relations at the time 
between France and the United States, Chaudron's ad- 
dress had much political significance. 17 Amenite went 
out of existence in 1823. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE ORDER OF THE CINCINNATI 

IT was at a critical juncture in affairs that the Order 
of the Cincinnati was formed for a specific and patri- order of the 
^ ^ Cincinnati 

otic purpose. Washington himself was a leader in 

the movement. When the Revolutionary War was finally 
over and the army was about to be disbanded, Washing- 
ton had his headquarters at Newburgh, in the building organization 

I,- 1 • A A -J and Object 

which IS now preserved and occupied as a museum. 
General Knox, one of his favourite officers, was in com- 
mand of West Point, a few miles below on the Hudson. 
At Newbm'gh Washington made his farewell address to 
the army. When it came to disbanding, however, there 
was trouble, because Congress had left the officers and 
men without pay, and the spirit of mutiny was rife. In- 
flammatory speeches were made at Newburgh, and the 
mutineers threatened to band themselves together and go 
about the country overawing the people, as a means of 
gaining their dues. This situation, which was serious, 
led Washington, Knox and others to conceive the Order 
of the Cincinnati as a means of checking this mutinous 
movement. A meeting was held at the headquarters of 
General Steuben, at the VerPlanck homestead. Mount 
Gulian — a homestead founded, by the way, by the Hugue- 
not Romboud, of whom we shall speak elsewhere. At May 13, 1783 
this meeting the new society was born. May 13, 1783. 

From an interesting history of the Order, written by 
William E. VerPlanck, a descendant of an ancient family, 
we derive the facts which follow. Preliminary meetings 
were held near New Windsor, a subui^b of Newburgh, by 
the American officers who were in sympathy with the 
principles of the Order. Knox was perhaps chiefly in- 

397 



398 



THE FEENCH BLOOD 11^ AMEEICA 



Washington 
and Knox 



Original 
Articles 



The Name 



Benevolent 
Aim 



strumental in the organization. The original articles are 
still preserved. The object of the society was '' to com- 
memorate the success of the war against Great Britain 
and the reciprocal advantages which would ensue to the 
colonies, thereby establishing themselves as sovereign and 
independent states, to perpetuate sentiments of patriot- 
ism, benevolence and brotherly love and the memory of 
the hardships of the war experienced in common." The 
articles also declare that ' ' the officers of the American 
Army do hereby in the most solemn manner associate 
themselves into one Society of Friends to endure as loug 
as they shall endure, or any of their oldest male posterity, 
and in failure thereof the collateral branches who may be 
judged worthy of becoming its supporters and members." 

" The officers of the American army having been taken 
from the citizens of America possess high veneration for 
the character of that illustrious Eoman, Lucius Quintus 
Cincinnatus, and being resolved to follow his example by 
returning to their citizenship, they think they may with 
propriety denominate themselves the Society of the Cin- 
cinnati." 

Then follows a statement of their principles which are 
of an exalted and patriotic character. Provision was 
made for the establishment of state societies, and also of 
district or local societies. In order that relief might be 
immediately extended, it was provided that " each officer 
shall deliver to the treasurer of the State Society one 
month's pay, which shall remain forever to the use of the 
State Society, the interest only of which, if necessary, to 
be appropriated to the relief of the unfortunate." It was 
also provided that ' ' all officers of the American army — 
as well as those who have resigned with honour after 
three years' service in the capacity of officers, have the 
right" to membership. Provision was made also for an 
Order " by which its members shall be known and dis- 
tinguished, which shall be a medal of gold of a proper 
size to receive the emblems and suspended by a deep 



THE OEDEE OP THE CINCINNATI 399 

blue ribbon two inches wide edged with white descriptive 
of the Union of America and France ; the principal figui-e : 
Cincinnatus — three senators presenting him with a sword. ' ' 
The French connection came from the fact that honour- French 

Honourary 

ary membership in the new Order wtis conferred on Lafay- 
ette and the other French officers both of the army and 
navy who had so nobly aided in the struggle for Inde- 
pendence. This number included " His Excellency, The 
Chevalier de la Luzerne, Minister Plenipotentiary," the 
Counts D'Estaing, De Grasse, De Barras, and " His Ex- 
cellency, the Count De Eochambeau." 

The first to sign the articles was Washington, the sec- 
ond General Heath, the third General Lincoln, and the 
fourth General Greene, with Generals Knox, Putnam, 
and thirty other officers following. Thus began an Order 
that has survived, and been not only a benevolent or- 
ganization, but one deeply interested in public affairs. 
Washington was the first president-general of the Society, 
and held the office until his death, when he was succeeded 
by Hamilton. Thus the second president was of Hugue- 
not blood. Naturally the Society was a warm supporter 
of Washington in his terms as president, and in conse- 
quence became identified politically with the Federal 
party. It was six years after the organization of the 
Cincinnati that the Society of Tammany, or the Colum- 
bian Order, was formed in New York, this being at first 
a benevolent society, but soon becoming political, and 
antagonizing the Order of the Cincinnati. 

In May, 1883, the Society of the Cincinnati celebrated centennial 

•" . , ' "^ , Celebration 

its centennial at the old Gulian mansion where it was 1883 
born a hundred years before. The mansion had been 
enlarged, but the original part remains, and the room in 
which the Order was organized has been carefully pre- 
served and is known as the Cincinnati room. Newburgh 
and West Point were also visited by the celebrating party. 
Five or six of the original state societies survive, though 
the work of the Order was long since accomplished. 



CHAPTEE V 

FEENCH LEADEES IK EEFOEM AND IN 
INVENTION 



Governor 
LaFoMette 



Wisconsin 
Boy of 
Kentucky 
Huguenot 
Stock 



HOW the Huguenot blood has diffused itself 
through the couutry is illustrated in the case of 
Eobert Marion LaFollette of Wisconsin, one of 
the political reformers, who conceived it to be his mis- 
sion to break up a great political machine, and as a result 
met and defeated an imposing array of hostile forces in 
his party. It is not our purpose here to enter into his 
campaigns or decide as to merit in disputed cases. But 
it is in point that we find in this champion of the people 
against monopoly a descendant of the same refugee stock 
that in almost every instance was on the side of liberty 
and right. 

Governor LaFollette was born on a farm in Dane 
County, Wisconsin, June 14, 1855. His father was a 
Kentucky bred French Huguenot ; his mother Scotch- 
Irish. Again and again we have met that strong combi- 
nation, the same that shone out in Alexander Hamilton. 
The family moved to the West, where the son was to find 
his opportunity and make his mark in public life. The 
death of the father occurred when Eobert was less than a 
year old, but the resolute mother kept her little family of 
four children together, and at fourteen "Little Bob," as 
his followers call him, became the working head. He 
remained on the farm till he was nineteen, then sold it 
and moved to Madison, where the State University at- 
tracted him. The French blood in him "stirred to 
sentiment and the boy thrilled for glory." He had a 
decided gift of oratory, and won the college contests and 

400 



FRENCH LEADERS IN REFORM 401 

debates with ease. After graduation he went to work in 
a law office, and in five months was admitted to the bar, 
which indicates his remarkable mental facility and grasp. 
In 1880 he began to practice, but very soon was running in PubUc Life 
for office. Public life seemed to possess for him irresist- 
ible attraction. He won the office — that of district at- 
torney — and a wife, a college classmate, one result of 
co-education and a not uncommon one. He made an 
excellent record in his first office, but already the ma- 
chine politicians did not like him, because his methods 
differed from theirs, and he had broken into politics 
without asking the consent of the party powers. He de- 
veloped a remarkable talent for getting at and getting a 
hold on the people, so that they would vote for him 
whether he had the machine endorsement or not. By 
and by LaFoUette clashed decidedly with the State party 
"boss," and then he determined to stand or fall for him- 
self, aud to stand. That was the Scotch pertinacity, and 
with the French frankness and geniality it gained the 
day for him. The story of his successes has much of ro- 
mance and strenuousuess in it, but always LaFollette 
won, aud in office was what he promised the people he 
would be, their friend, honest and true. He went to 
Congress, because he made up his Scotch mind aud set 
his French wit to work to do it ; and then he determined 
to be governor of Wisconsin, and governor he became, 
although the machine said he never could be elected. 
From that high place he passed to the United States 
Senate. Whatever his future may be, this western de- 
scendant of the Huguenots has made his name known 
far and wide, and honourably known as a public man 
engaged in doing his duty in every office to which the 
people, who believe in him, called him. Certainly the 
quality of reform runs in the Huguenot blood to the latest 
generation. 

II 

While less noted publicly than the statesmen and sol- 



402 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



A Huguenot 
Inventor 
Thomas 
Blanchard 



Inventor of 
the Eccentric 



diers of Freuch blood who rendered such signal service 
to America, none of them all deserve to rank higher in 
the scale of usefulness and benefaction than Thomas 
Blanchard. His ancestors were among the exiles, known 
as Gabriel Bernon's colony, who undertook to found Ox- 
ford, in what is now Worcester County. This county is 
distinguished, as the late Senator Hoar wi-ote, as the 
very home and centre of invention. " I do not think any 
other place in the world, of the same size, can boast of so 
many great inventions as the region covered by a circle 
within a radius of twelve miles, of which the centre is the 
city of Worcester. ' ' To name but three of many, in that 
circle were born Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin 
that doubled the value of every acre of cotton producing 
land at once, and revolutionized one of the leading indus- 
tries of the world ; Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing 
machine, one of the greatest boons ever known to woman, 
which made a new household economy possible ; and 
Thomas Blanchard, subject of this sketch, inventor of 
the machine for the turning of irregular forms. Sena- 
tor Hoar regarded this as the most important and difficult 
of all the inventions named, notwithstanding the vast 
value of the other two. 

The story of Thomas Blanchard, Huguenot descendant, 
has recently been told by Hon. Alfred S. Eoe, author of 
many historical monographs. We make free use of it in 
this connection, glad that a man of such inventive ability 
as Thomas Blanchard can find the wider recognition he 
deserves. He should have place among the first in- 
ventors because he is credited with the discovery of a new 
principle in motion, that of the eccentric. There is 
scarcely a machine shop in the world to-day that does 
not in some shape have instances of this French-Ameri- 
can's genius. 

After the disastrous 'ending of the colonizing attempt 
at Oxford, a branch of the Blanchard family settled 
finally in Sutton, where on a farm Thomas was born, 



FEEKCH LEADEES IN REFOEM 403 

Juue 24, 1788. But he had no liking for farming. He 
was a born mechanic, and the despair of his industrious, 
plodding father. Owing to an unfortunate impediment 
of speech, which in later years he overcame, the lad was 
thrown much upon his own resources as a child. His 
ingenuity was early shown, as when he secured charcoal 
from the home fireplace for his experiments, and at thir- Appie-Paring 
teen made an apple-paring machine which revolutionized 
the drying of that much-valued fruit. At eigliteen, a 
brother having established a tack factory in Millbury, 
Thomas was transferred from the farm to help in the ex- 
tremely monotonous occupation of heading each object 
by the blow of a hammer. It did not take his ingenious 
mind long to elaborate a machine which made tacks 
more rapidly than the ticking of a watch, and also made 
them better than those made by hand — a machine in 
which no essential improvements were made in more 
than twenty years. Experts declared it almost perfect Tack Machine 
from the start. This was pretty good for a stuttering 
schoolboy, so long the butt of his Sutton associates. 
This tack machine was sold for $5,000, only a fraction of 
its real value ; and from the proceeds Thomas established 
a shop in which he was able to continue his inventive 
work unhindered. 

Up to this time, during scores of years there had been 
no advance in the polishing of gun barrels. The rounded 
part could be readily reached, but the flattened portions, 
those at the breech where the stock was added, had to be 
worked by hand, and it cost a dollar apiece properly to 
finish them. There was an armory in Millbury, and the 
proprietor learning of the genius in the confines of that 
very town, sent for him and let him know the needs of 
the occasion. Glancing along the lathe and beginning a 
monotonous whistle, as was his wont when in a study, he oun-Barrei 
soon evolved a simple improvement in the shape of a ^^'^ 
cam motion, and the making of gun-barrels was simpli- 
fied forever. 



404 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

" Well done," says Mr. Waters. '' I shouldn' t wonder 
if you yet invented a machine for turning gun-stocks." 

" W-w-ell, I'll t-try," was the laconic reply. 

A train of thought had been set in motion which in 
time brought out the machine for turning irregular 
forms. His success in the Millbury armory soon secured 
a call for him to the government establishment in Spring- 
field, where he set the lathes in order, all the time appar- 
ently dwelling on the words of Colonel Waters. When 
his work in Springfield was done and he was driving 
back to his Worcester County home, he much sur- 
prised certain people by exclaiming, as he drove along, 
"I've got it ! I've got it ! I've got it ! " They at once 
pronounced him crazy, as no doubt those Syracusans did 
who saw the naked philosopher coursing through their 
streets, shouting " Eureka ! " 

For two years the world saw little of the young me- 
chanic, for he shut himself in his shop and there pur- 
sued his experiments until he was able to tell Colonel 
Waters that what the latter in pleasantry had hinted at, 
had become an actuality. To be sm^e, it was only a 
miniature machine, but it was so evidently practical that 
other workmen were called in and a complete lathe was 
erected, thus giving to his native county and to the town 
of Millbury the credit of the first machine for the turning 
of irregular forms. Meanwhile, Washington had heard 
of his success, and he was requested to set his lathe up in 
the Springfield Arsenal, a request with which he com- 
plied, and it remained there long enough to have another 
similar one made, when the original was returned to Mill- 
bury, where it continued in constant use for more than 
twenty years. 
Fame"of'His' Euglaud heard of the invention, and sent over repre- 
sentatives to examine and report. They were astonished 
at what they saw, and reported accordingly, but John 
Bull could not be convinced so easily, and a second mes- 
senger was sent with tough pieces of oak, thinking them 



Invention 



FRENCH LEADERS IN REFORM 405 

too hard for any mere machine. Much to the astonish- 
ment of the Englishman, the specimens of hard wood 
were transformed at once into the most perfect of stocks. 
The report was accepted, and $40,000 worth of the lathes 
were forthwith ordered. As is usual with all great in- 
ventions, there was little disposition to allow Blanchard 
to enjoy any great results from his labours, and he him- 
self stated in Washington, before a Congressional com- 
mittee, when he applied for the second renewal of his 
patent, that thus far he had received little more than his 
board and clothes for what he had done, while litigation 
had cost him more than $100,000. Fortunately for the convincing 

Congress 

inventor, Rufus Choate was then in Congress, and his wit 
and wisdom coming to the rescue of the genius, he secured 
a renewal of the patent. To show the possibilities of his 
machine to turn irregular forms, he actually set up in the 
national capitol one of the lathes, and there in the i^res- 
euce of all who cared to look, using plaster figures as 
models, he turned in marble the heads of Webster, Clay, 
and others, far more exactly than the hand of an artist 
could fashion them. The witty Choate said Blanchard 
had "turned the heads of congressmen," and so he had, 
and they were sufficiently appreciative to grant him what 
he asked. 

The foregoing invention alone would have given Blan- 
chard immortality, but he did not stop here. He made 
steamboats of such light draught that they could run 
over rapids and shoals, and he invented methods of bend- 
ing wood so as not to impair in the least its native strength. 
He could bend a shingle at right angles and leave it as 
strong as before. His invention was particularly valua- 
ble in the bending of timber for the knees of vessels. Be- 
ginning to realize on the many inventions he had made, 
he took a house in Boston, and there, in comfort and dig- 
nity, spent the remaining years of his life. Middle-aged 
people can remember when the old-fashioned right-angled 
slate frames gave way to a continuous frame with rounded 



406 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

corners. Many such people may now learn for the first 
time that each and every frame thus employed had paid 
a small royalty to Thomas Blanchard, a royalty, how- 
ever, in the aggregate amounting to many thousands of 
dollars. It is said that the manufacturer for whom the 
invention was made refused to pay Blanchard two thou- 
sand dollars outright for the invention, preferring to pay 
him a royalty of five per cent. His feelings may be 
imagined when he paid over to the genius more than two 
thousand dollars the first year. 
A World He improved the manner of making the handles of 

Benefactor ^ , , . , t, 

shovels, saving material and making a stronger handle. 
The principle of his inventions was applied in so many 
ways that to-day the world is full of what Blanchard did. 
Millions of boot and shoe lasts are made every year, and 
every one is a tribute to the Sutton boy. To drop out for 
a single day, from the factories and machine shops of the 
world, the inventions and applications of Thomas Blan- 
chard, would throw the mechanical world into inextricable 
confusion. When the nation gets tired of erecting statues 
to soldiers, perhaps it will remember the men who helped 
to make life worth living. 

Blanchard lived till April 16, 1864, when he ceased 
from earth, and his mortal remains were borne to Mount 
Auburn, where hero-worshippers may find his grave on 
Spruce Avenue ; his monument being surmounted by a 
bust of the great inventor, while upon the base is a medal- 
lion or relief of the lathe which gave him his world-wide 
reputation. 



CHAPTER VI 
HUGUENOT HOME LIFE IN AMERICA 



THIS subject is treated in a very interesting man- The Art of 
ner by Helen Evertson Smith in a volume en- Happfiy 
titled Colonial Days and Ways. We make such 
use of her work as will give our readers a picture of 
the home life, customs, and amusements of the French 
in New Rochelle and at other points. This will also show 
the influence which the French had upon their neighbours. 
The art of living happily seems to be a native possession 
of the French, while it is not so with the Anglo-Saxon. 
His disposition is to take himself and life too seriously. 
That was the fault and defect of the Puritan ; though it 
must be said that this is a fault far less grave in its con- 
sequences than the modern one of not taking life seriously 
enough. The Huguenots hit a happy mean for the most 
part, and infused joy into their environment. 

Whether they had been rich or poor in France, there Gentle and 
were few of the Huguenot refugees who were not poor ^°"''*^°"^ 
when they reached America. Notable exceptions have 
been cited, like those of Gabriel Bernon, but they were 
the exceptions. Whatever their fortunes, however, the 
refugees were gentle, trained in many arts, and possessed 
of the keen perceptions, the courtesy, and the easy adapta- 
bility of their race. Home life among them was different 
from that of any of the other colonists, because they came 
from a land more advanced in some things than either 
Holland or England. 

The Puritan was keen-witted, with rigid notions of Three Races 

' " Contrasted 

morality, and a harsh spirit towards those who disagreed 
with him, particularly in religion. The conditions of his 

407 



408 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

life were hard, but full of mental, moral and physical 
health. He despised no handicraft, neglected no means 
of cultivation, shirked no duty (nor did he permit any 
one else to do so, if he could help it), and fought his way 
upward, unhasting, imresting, honestly, persistently. 
The Dutchman was milder than the Puritan, but as stiff- 
necked, and an inborn republican as well as an educated 
Calvinist. Slower, narrower, more prejudiced, he was 
less agressive. To his commercial and industrial in- 
stincts our country owes much of its prosperity. 

The Huguenot — to complete the comparison between 
these three races which came together in the formation of 
the colonial life and character — was devout, less ambi- 
tious, affectionate of heart, artistic, cultivated, adaptable 
and also highly endowed with the commercial instincts 
Characteristic ajj^ skilled capacitics. He brought to America the arts, 

Cheerfulness ^ ° . .,. . 

accomplishments and graces of the highest civilization 
then known, together with a sweet cheerfulness all his 
own. Not a colony or a class but was ameliorated by his 
influence, and consciously or unconsciously, we all love 
him. His was, indeed, essentially a lovable nature. No 
character could be truer or nobler or at bottom prob- 
ably more affectionate than the Puritan, but the mani- 
festation of qualities was very different. The French did 
not think it a shame or crime to show freely the love they 
felt. They were natural where others were restrained. 

It is certain, from the nature of things, that the home 

lives of all these different bands of colonists must have 

Differences in differed widclv. Nouc had luxuries and few had com- 

the Home Life '' i .l i i j 

forts, as we now understand these terms, but each had 
some possessions, some ways, some deficiencies, and some 
attainments which belonged to none of the others. Im- 
proved conditions came rapidly, and in improvements 
one would be sure to find the French in the lead. 

II 
As we have intimated, although most of the refugee 



HUGUENOT HOME LIFE IN AMERICA 409 

Huguenots had been prosperous in France, and not a few strong 
had been wealthy and influential noblemen and citizens, '"^' 

not many had been able to take much money away with 
them — the circumstances of their flight precluded that ; 
but they had all brought energy, industry, thrift, and 
power of enduiance, as well as that truly delightful 
birthright of their nation, an invincible lightness of 
heart, while many of them also possessed skill in some 
hitherto peculiarly French handicraft, or in mechanical 
methods of unusual scope ; and others had equally high 
talent in the professions, in trade, and in civil affairs. 

Like the Plymouth Pilgrims, the Huguenots came with- 
out any backing of national trade or class interest ; but a Mixed 
while the first came to preserve civil and religious rights, '""™""* ^ 
the latter were exiles who had lost their rights and fled 
for life, and were of all social grades, embracing a few 
noblemen, a larger number of the class of gentlemen, or 
the lesser nobility, and professional men, merchants, 
bankers, manufacturers and artisans. In spite of previ- 
ous social conditions, the oneness of the French was a 
wonder to the English and Dutch, who kindly welcomed 
them. The persecuted were bound together by a com- 
mon blood, language, peril and faith. In their little 
settlement at New Rochelle there was for many years as 
near an approach to apostolic ways of living as has been 
seen, probably, since apostolic days. They had all things 
in common, cared for their own poor, and formed a 
brotherhood such as Christianity was intended to produce 
the world over. Every household became a little indus- 
trial colony. Those who had never before laboured 
now learned to do so, and hardships were cheerfully 
borne. 

Daily life in the Huguenot household was probably less 
toilsome than was common among other colonists. In- Thrift and 
telligent, industrial and resourceful, there was a kind of °-°p^''»*>°" 
co-operation among the French. Equality of living and 
enjoyment prevailed. The conditions were naturally 



410 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

trying for many years to those who had been gently born 
and nurtured in France, but the best was made of exist- 
ing circumstances, and the people of New Eochelle soon 
were distinguished by the amount of comforts and even 
luxuries they gathered about them. Their homes, to 
judge by the specimens which remain in New Eochelle, 
were neither large nor fine, but they were substantial and 
as comfortable as was then possible. Tradition says that 
the first to utilize the remnants of worn-out garments by 
cutting them into strips and weaving them into carpets 
were the French. The rag carpet was in its day an ad- 
vance agent of comfort and culture ; and one may recall 
the Connecticut deacon who asked Mrs. Lyman Beecher, 
who was the first to introduce a carpet into Litchfield, if 
she thought she could " have all thet an' heaven tool" 
Among the earliest importations of the French settlers 
were the spinning wheels and looms of better quality 
than were previously known here. Immigrants from 
fruit-growing and wine-making districts of France brought 
grafts and roots, and naturalized most of the hardier va- 
Taste in rictics. A fcw Were able to import hangings, mirrors. 

Decorations -, „ . „ , , -, , ■ ^ ,-, 

chma and furniture of rare beauty ; but m general they 
possessed only those articles of furniture which could be 
made here. However humble these might be in them- 
selves, they would surely be made decorative by little 
touches which only the French hand could give, just as 
the same delicate touches would be seen in the toilets of 
the women. 

Where the English and Dutch dyed linen yarn of 
heavy quality and wove it into ugly stripes and checks 
for bed and window curtains, the French used either 
white linen or that with but one colour, dainty shades of 
light blue or dusky green or a subdued gold colour made 
by dyes of which they had brought the secret with them 
being preferred. These linens, made into hangings 
bordered by an embroidered vine or arabesque design in 
white upon the gold, or of varied colours upon the all 





\^a . >^ 



y 



^,^gL/ni^^«n<^^ 





.^i/'^a^a^na^ 




CL^/Tz, Jrrtn.rrre^o 



HUGUENOT HOME LIFE IN AMERICA 411 

white, were delicately beautiful, and became heirlooms in 
many a family. 

"The bedroom of my mother's grandmother L'Es- a French 
trange," says the author, "has often been described to Bedroom 
me. The floor was painted as nearly as possible to match 
the subdued gold of the linen hangings. The ceilings 
and side walls were whitewashed with lime. The win- 
dows and dressing-tables were hung with tastefully ar- 
ranged draperies, bordered with a grapevine pattern em- 
broidered in white, and further trimmed at the edge with 
a knitted fringe of white linen yarn. The tall four-posted 
bedstead of carved mahogany was provided with a tester, 
with long draw-curtains. Over the high and downy bed 
lay a fringed and embroidered coverlet of the same linen. 
An immense stuffed chair, running easily upon wooden 
globes the size of billiard balls, which were the precursors 
of the modern caster, had a very high back and side 
wings, against which the head might rest. The linen 
yarn for the draperies of this room was all said to have 
been spun by the first Mme. L' Estrange and her daugh- 
ters, and it was afterwards woven under their direction 
and embroidered by themselves." 

The cultivated taste and the dainty arts brought from Home 
France made the homes of the Huguenots much more 
attractive in appearance than those of the other colonists, 
even though the latter might have far more wealth. The 
same difference was manifest in dress. The French- 
woman's fine eye for colour, and her delicate skill with 
brush, needle and bobbin, united to produce more attract- 
ive results. Similar touches of taste and skill appeared 
everywhere, and gave distinction to the Huguenot homes, 
whatever the owner's social standing in France. As neat 
as their Dutch neighbours, they devised laboui'-saving 
methods to maintain perfect cleanliness without being 
slaves to it. As liberal as the English, they were far 
more economical, and by their skill in cooking they ren- 
dered palatable and digestible the coarsest fare. They 



412 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

could not equal the Dutch women in rich dislies, sweet 
cakes and preserves, nor the English in roasts and pas- 
tries, but in wholesome dishes for daily consumption they 
far excelled both, and particularly in bread making. 
They were the first to introduce yeast, where leaven was 
the common resort. We owe to them delicately flavoured 
soups, the light omelettes, and the delicious entrees, be- 
sides the rolls and buns. 

Ill 

In spite of temperamental light-heartedness, the Hugue- 
A Hard Lot uot had a peculiarly hard lot. He was not a voluntary 
Souls ^^ colonist, but a refugee. Now there is no more patriotic 

people than the French. They love their country and 
homes and customs. The Huguenot was ready to sacri- 
fice everything but his religion in order to remain in his 
own land. An exile, his feeling towards the government 
and Church which had made him an outcast was bitter. 
It was due to this that the Huguenot refugee ceased to 
speak his own language as speedily as possible, and 
sought to forget France and the past. To the land of 
their adoption the Huguenots transferred to the full all 
the inborn loyalty of their characters. During Great 
Britain's long wars with France the Huguenot descend- 
ants, in England or the colonies, bore their part in the 
arm service. Many of the best families in New Eochelle 
sent representatives to fight the French and Indians. 
The Huguenots made loyal and noble American citizens. 
Change of The abandonment of connection with France is shown 

clearly in the change of names, to which reference has 
elsewhere been made. The spelling was apt to follow the 
pronunciation of the new friends and neighbours. Thus 
Bonne Passe (Good Thrust, a name of honour when good 
swordsmen were valued) became shortened to Bon Pas, 
then changed to Bunpas, followed by Bumpus, and finally 
contracted to Bump. L' Estrange was known as Streing, 
Strange, Strang, and sometimes Strong. 



HUGUENOT HOME LIFE IN AMEEICA 413 

Doctriually the Huguenots aud Puritans were the same, The Huguenot 



but in practice they differed not a little. The Puritan 
was a very strict keeper of the Sabbath, beginning at 
sunset of Saturday a twenty -four hours' abstinence fi'om 
any avoidable work, as well as from any pleasure save 
that which his devoutness found in religious services. 
The Huguenot Sunday began and ended as now. Like 
Calvin himself, the refugees did not think it necessary to 
avoid all pleasant things on Sunday more than on other 
days, aud all who had friends living near the wayside 
stopped in to visit them as they returned from church ; 
for the Sunday time that was not devoted to church serv- 
ices and to an hour of catechizing at home was not con- 
sidered as ill spent in cheerful social intercourse. In 
Calvinistic Switzerland, as in Eoman Catholic France, it 
had been customary to indulge, after church hours, in any 
form of innocent amusement. The Huguenots seem to 
have drawn the line just short of this. But on week days 
their national joyousness and light- heartedu ess was bound 
to display itself in as many ways as circumstances would 
permit. Tableaux and little comedies were frequent, 
while dancing was the expected amusement in most 
households at every evening gathering, and these took 
place as often as possible. This made the pleasure of the 
home life in marked contrast to much of the severer life 
around them, and drew upon the Huguenots many re- 
proaches. Children were instructed with a degree of 
gentleness and consideration quite in contrast with the 
sterner ways of the English or Dutch. Cheerfulness and 
even gaiety was the rule. A gloomy Huguenot was an 
anomaly to be pitied and apologized for. Such happy 
dispositious as were common among the French produced 
a very great impression, and their customs did much to 
break down an unnatural resti'aint that could not exist 
permanently without defeating the high ends aimed at by 
zealous aud godly people. 
The French boarding and day schools for young ladies 



on Sunday 



414 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



The French 
Schools 



r 



Graceful 
Accomplish- 
ments 



which were established iu New Rochelle were eagerly pat- 
ronized by the English and Dutch, whose daughters 
hitherto had possessed few educational advantages. 
These schools were the originals of the young ladies' 
seminaries and fitting schools, or finishing schools, 
which held the field until the day of women's colleges, 
which was ushered in by a Huguenot descendant — Mat- 
thew Vassar, founder of Vassar College. From the first 
the French language was taught, and all the "ladylike 
accomplishments" of the time were imparted. English 
teachers were employed to teach the grammatical use of 
their own tongue, written and spoken ; but it may be 
imagined that this was not considered as of nearly as high 
importance as the more showy accomplishments, which 
could be acquired at these schools only. These accom- 
plishments included enough of music to enable a young 
woman to play a little for dancing, or to warble a few 
songs in her fresh sweet tones to the accompaniment of 
the spinet ; enough of French to read it easily, write it 
fairly well, and hold a not too monosyllabic conversation. 
Then much was made of instruction in the arts of paint- 
ing and embroidery, and more of that truly high art, 
gentle manners — the manners not only of persons of gentle 
birth, but of those so early taught by precept and example 
that their graces seem to have been born with them, a part 
of their very selves. The pupils were taught how to avoid 
all awkwardness of movement or carriage ; how to bear 
themselves gracefully erect ; how to enter and leave a 
room, to greet properly all ages and conditions, to ar- 
range and preside at a dinner table wiih elegance, to 
dress with taste and effect, and to dance gracefully. In- 
cidentally with all these things, a great deal of valuable 
instruction was given in the finer graces of courtesy and 
courteous speech, and all that gentle consideration for 
others which is at once the flower and root of good breed- 
ing. Who shall say that this education was not fitting, 
and that the colleges of to-day, with their maunishness, 



HUGUENOT HOME LIFE IN AMEEICA 415 



do not lack some of the feminine elements which tend to 
produce rounded womanhood and to make woman a 
home queen. 

The Huguenots endeavoured to transmit to their chil- 
dren the traditions of politeness they had brought from 
France. Even in their games and amusements good 
manners were taught, and certainly the delightful traits 
of courtesy and thoughtful kindness and fine breeding 
have persisted in the French Protestant blood, and are 
notable in the fine families which perpetuate the stock in 
our laud. 



Manners 
Transmitted 



D 



P 
1 r 




■^ - 1 ■•■;lL'.-'C-'-''TF=-''-f^"-P'^l;p25^ ^ ^ 



5 

33 



11 







Frdunc^s Tavern Broad ^'Barl Streets 
Ori^jinalli) the DeLancey Homateai 



CHAPTER VII 

AN EARLY FRENCH ESTIMATE OF AMERICAN 
CHARACTER 



■What is an 
American ? 



Answer by ; 
French- 
American 
Farmer 



THE American character is a composite, repre- 
senting many nationalities. In the early blend 
there were four distinct types — English, Scotch, 
French and Dutch. What we commonly call the Amer- 
icans, with reference to the early colonists and their de- 
scendants — using the term thus in a restricted sense — 
came from the intermixture of these stocks or from the 
unmixed blood. It will be interesting to read the esti- 
mate which a French- American colonist gives of America 
and the Americans in the last decade of the eighteenth 
century. The following extract is taken from the Letters 
from an American Fai^mer, published in London in 1782, 
the author being J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur : 

''I wish I could be acquainted with the feelings and 
thoughts which must agitate the heart and present them- 
selves to the mind of an enlightened Englishman, when 
he first lands on this continent (America). . . . Here 
he sees the industry of his native country displayed in a 
new manner. . . . Here he beholds fair cities, sub- 
stantial villages, extensive fields, an immense country 
filled with decent houses, good roads, orchards, meadows, 
and bridges, where an hundred years ago all was wild, 
woody and uncultivated ! . . . He is arrived on a 
new continent ; a modern society offers itself to his con- 
templation, different from what he had hitherto seen. It 
is not composed, as in Europe, of great lords who possess 
everything, and of a herd of people who have nothing. 
Here are no aristocratical families, no courts, no kings, 
no bishops, no ecclesiastical dominion, no invisible 

416 



ESTIMATE OF AMERICAN CHARACTER 417 

power giving to a few a very visible one ; no great man- 
ufacturers employing thousands, no great refinements of 
luxury. The rich and the poor are not so far removed 
from each other as they are in Europe. Some few towns 
excepted, we are all tillers of the earth, from Nova 
Scotia to West Florida. We are a people of cultivators, ^"s^pr^e^*"' 
scattered over an immense territory, communicating with People 
each other by means of good roads and navigable rivers, 
united by the silken bands of mild government, all re- 
specting the laws, without dreading their power, because 
they are equitable. We are all animated with the spirit 
of an industry which is unfettered and unresti-ained, be- 
cause each person works for himself. ... A iDleas- 
ing uniformity of decent competence appears throughout 
our habitations. The meanest of our log-houses is a dry 
and comfortable habitation. Lawyer or merchant are 
the fairest titles our towns afford ; that of a farmer, is the 
only appellation of the rural inhabitants of our country. 
. . . Here man is free as he ought to be j nor is this 
pleased equality so transitory as many others are. Many 
ages will not see the shores of our great lakes replenished 
with inland nations, nor the unknown bounds of North 
America entirely peopled. Who can tell how far it ex- 
tends ? Who can tell the millions of men whom it will 
feed and contain ? for no European foot has as yet trav- 
ersed half the extent of this mighty continent ! 

"The next wish of this traveller will be to know 
whence came all these people 1 They are a mixture of a Biood 
English, Scotch. Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and 
Swedes. From this promiscuous breed, that race now 
called Americans has arisen. . . . 

" By what invisible power has this surprising nieta- Metamor- 
morphosis been performed 1 By that of the laws and that Ind^tiblny^ 
of their industry. The laws, the indulgent laws, protect 
them as they arrive, stamping on them the symbol of 
adoption ; they receive ample rewards for their labours ; 
these accumulated rewards procure them laud ; those 



418 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 

lands confer on them the title of freemen, and to that 
title every benefit is affixed which man can possibly re- 
quire. This is the great operation daily performed by 
our laws. From whence proceed these laws ? From our 
government. Whence that government? It is derived 
from the original genius and strong desire of the people 
ratified and confirmed by the crown. This is the great 
chain which links us all, this is the picture which every 
province exhibits. . . . 

*'He is an American, who leaving behind him all his 
ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from 
the new mode of life he has embraced, the new govern- 
ment he obeys and the new rank he holds. He becomes 
an American by being received in the broad lap of our 
great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all nations are 
melted into a new race of men, whose laboui'S and poster- 
ity will one day cause great changes in the world. Amer- 
Meited Into a icaus are the western pilgrims, who are carrying along 

New Race i:- » 7 j r> o 

with them that great mass of arts, sciences, vigour, and 
industry which began long since in the east ; they will 
finish the great circle. The Americans were once scat- 
tered all over Europe ; here they are incorporated into 
one of the finest systems of population which has ever 
appeared, and which will hereafter become distinct by 
the power of the different climates they inhabit. The 
American ought therefore to love this country much bet- 
ter than that wherein either he or his forefathers were 
born. Here the rewards of his industry follow with 
equal steps the progress of his labour ; his labour is 
founded on the basis of nature, self-interest ; can it want 
New Man of a strougcr alluremeut ? Wives and childi'en, who before 
in vain demanded of him a morsel of bread, now, fat and 
frolicsome, gladly help their father to clear those fields 
whence exuberant crops are to arise to feed and to clothe 
them all ; without any part being claimed, either by a 
despotic prince, a rich abbot, or a mighty lord. Here 
religion demands but little of him ; a small voluntary 



New Ideas 



ESTIMATE OF AMERICAN CHARACTER 419 

salary to the minister, and gratitude to God ; can he re- 
fuse these ? The American is a new man, who acts upon 
new principles ; he must therefore entertain new ideas, 
and form new opinions. From involuntary idleness, 
servile dependence, penury, and useless labour, he has 
passed to toils of a very different nature, rewarded by 
ample subsistence. This is an American." 




'celebration op the adoption of the constitution in 1 



[TAe molt imposing fart of the gorgeous pageant was the Federal ship on •wheels, 
with Hamilton's name emblazoned upon each side of it, its crew going' through 
tvery nautical preparation and ntovement /or storms, calms, and squalls, as it 
tnovcd slowly I It rough the streets o/ New York City. When opposite the Bowline 
Green a salute o/ thirteen guns was fired ] 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE FRENCH AS A FACTOR IN AMERICAN 
CIVILIZATION 



Huguenot 
Influence 



The French 

Protestant 

Type 



Men of 
Marked 
Ability 



I 



N attempting to estimate the influence of the Hugue- 
nots in America, three facts must be taken into ac- 
count : first, that they were Frenchmen ; second, that 
they were Frenchmen of marked ability ; and third, that 
they had been fitted by long and severe persecution for 
exceptional influence. 

The characteristic Frenchman is a marked man in any 
zone. In physique he is slender and supple ; in intellect 
imaginative, ingenious, artistic. As a man he is remark- 
ably light-hearted, inclined to hopefulness, loving mental 
and moral sunshine ; and has, withal, a passionate devo- 
tion to his native land and its institutions. In addition, 
he possesses fine moral fibre, together with an intensely 
religious nature. The Huguenots who came to America 
were French through and through. The national blood 
flowed strongly in their veins ; they loved France, and 
because they loved her deeply they soon became intensely 
loyal to their adopted country. In suffering, in peril, in 
the face of death, in the darkest hours, they sang songs 
and ever turned their faces towards the brighter side of 
things. Yet they did not lack seriousness, but were 
thoroughly religious and were ready to die, if need be, 
for their religious convictions. 

The Huguenots were Frenchmen of marked ability. 
They were drawn from all classes and from all occupa- 
tions, but were the best of their various ranks and call- 
ings. It is the uniform testimony of unprejudiced his- 
tory that the Protestants of France were her strength in 

420 



A FACTOE IN AMERICAN CIVILIZATION 421 

agriculture, in manufacturing, and in commerce, and 
that tbe insane policy of the crown in lending itself to 
the papal determination to exterminate them bespoiled 
France of much of her material wealth and glory and 
sank her into the depths of moral degeneration. And of 
this Protestant body, the brain and heart of a whole race, 
it was the exceptionally strong, vigorous and purposeful 
soul who succeeded in eluding the clutch of the emissaries 
of Rome and in reaching America. Those lacking in 
physical strength, or financial resources, or unusual 
tenacity of purpose, became the victims of their relentless 
persecutors. An elect race, men of remarkable ability, 
of exceptional mental and moral worth, of deathless alle- 
giance to their faith and to the rights of man, were the 
French Protestants who shared with their English 
brethren the perils and joys of founding the American 
Republic. 

Further than this, the long years of harrowing and strong in 
terrible persecution had given to the Huguenots a charac- ^^^^ " 
ter of peculiar fibre and force. The close surveillance 
which their persecutors held over them was so exacting 
and minute that they were forced into the most careful 
scrutiny of their every act and of the whole manner of 
their lives. Thus did their tormentors instil into them 
foresight and prudence and a deep wisdom in the conduct 
of life. In addition, x^ersecution drove them to the 
Word of God and they became the "direct offspring of 
the Bible." Its study was their consolation, and came to 
be their strength — proving in this case, as it has proved 
in countless other cases, to be an inspirer of vigorous 
minds and sturdy moral natures. In the early days of 
the persecution, Clement Marot had translated the Psalms 
of David into French rhythm, and the singing of these Marot-s 
psalms became a Huguenot characteristic. They chanted ^"""^ 
them at their services, in their homes, at their work, at 
social gatherings, on the streets, in dungeons, on board 
the galleys, at the stake or the scaffold : and the influence 



422 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 

of these hymns in giving the Huguenots comfort and 
courage and strength was remarkable. Engrafted upon 
their natures as Frenchmen was a biblical breadth and 
depth, and a manly gentleness of character. 



II 



A High Type 
of Race 



Skilled 
Thrifty 
Prosperous 



Moral and 
Religious Life 



It was, then, a high and peculiar type of French blood 
that was infused into the English colonial life ; and 
marked results followed. First of all, it quickened 
material prosperity. By the addition of these skilled 
artisans, agriculture and commerce and the mechanical 
arts received a new impulse. They brought to perfection 
the cultivation of rice and tobacco, improved the native 
vines, introduced new fruits such as the quince and pear, 
and added greatly to the variety and quality of American 
garden products. In commercial enterprise they were 
unequalled, and such merchants as the Faneuils, the Lis- 
penards, the Allaires, the Marquands, the De Lanceys, 
the Manigaults, were names to conjure with. The share 
of the colonial wealth held by the Huguenots was out of 
all proportion to their numbers, for of all the peoples 
who enjoyed the bounties of the New World they were 
the most prosperous. The same enterprise which caused 
the settlers of the Narragansett colony to set out mul- 
berry trees, for the purpose of silk culture, at the same 
time they planted the crops which were to serve their 
immediate needs, found an outlet in the improvement of 
settled manufactures and in the introduction of new ones. 
In the weaving and dyeing of cloth, in the manufacture 
of felt, gunpowder, sugar, etc., they were pioneers, as 
they were likewise in the development of American min- 
eral resources. 

The infusion of the Huguenot blood had a second 
marked result — it produced a higher type of moral and 
religious life. It modified and softened the harsher and 
more austere views of the Puritans in New England and 
thus helped to produce a higher and more efficient type 




General John C. Fremont 



General Robert Anderson 




U S. Senator Robert La FoUctte 
Admiral Dewey "" 

EMIXEXT AMERICANS OF IIUGUEXOT DESCEXT 



A FACTOR IN AMEKICAN CIVILIZATION 423 

of religious manhood. In the province of New Nether- 
land the Huguenot influence was felt in lending a greater 
spirituality to the solid worthfulness of the Dutch, and 
in Pennsylvania the result was the same. Wliile the 
fervour of the Southerner, outside of its climatic causes, 
is directly traceable to the intermingling of the Huguenot 
and Cavalier. 

The facility and adaptability which characterized the Amcricaniza. 
Huguenot emigrants was a factor of great strength in giv- 
ing the new race its peculiar ability to work out the 
whole scheme of American government. The basis and 
body of the colonial life was predominantly English — a 
life of remarkable vigour, strength and genius. But the 
Englishman after several years on American soil was no 
longer an Englishman, but an Englishman Americanized. 
He had been changed into a radically different and su- 
perior man. In producing this change climate and en- 
vironment had their effects ; the colonial life wrought 
out its disciplinary and modifying results. But the 
change in character, efBciency, genius and power were 
too deep and radical to be explained in this way. It can 
be understood only by remembering that a continuous 
stream of French life was poured into the larger English 
current, sweetening and purifying its waters and making 
them more healthy and life-giving. This commingling 
of two powerful nations produced a race of men that 
neither France nor England could possibly have pro- 
duced had either been the sole possessor of American 
soil. It needed both Huguenot and Englishman to a strong 
make the American. This new race, the offspring of two ®^^'"* 
great nations, faced tremendous responsibilities and as- 
sumed a herculean task. It undertook to transmute into 
practical and enduring shape the dream of statesmen of 
all ages. It undertook to build a nation unlike any na- 
tion of the past in all its deeper features ; to erect a 
structure that should not only endure but become stronger 
with the passing of the years. Civil and religious liberty 



424 



THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



America's 
Debt to 
France 



Links in the 
Chain 



Debt to Calvin 



was to be the foundation stone. The essential thing in its 
accomiilishment was the race of men who were to under- 
take the mighty task. The foundation was laid and 
steadily the building went up. It took on form and 
beauty and realized the dream of sage and prophet. 
Time has tested its foundations ; unlooked for strains 
have come to its walls, but foundations and superstructure 
endure, so wise and successful was the work of the build- 
ers. All honour, then, to the persecuted refugees who 
lent their influence and their lives to the building of the 
Republic. 

Ill 

America's debt to France is not likely to be fully recog- 
nized, so deep below the surface does it reach. Pointing 
out how Providence deduces the greatest events from the 
least considered causes, Bancroft instances how "a Geno- 
ese adventurer, discovering America, changed the com- 
merce of the world ; an obscure German, inventing the 
printing press, rendered possible the universal diffusion 
of increased intelligence ; an Augustine monk, denoun- 
cing indulgences, introduced a schism in religion, and 
changed the foundations of European politics ; a young 
French refugee, skilled alike in theology and civil law, 
in the duties of magistrate and the dialectics of religious 
controversy, entering the republic of Geneva, and con- 
forming its ecclesiastical discipline to the principles of 
republican simplicity, established a party, of which Eng- 
lishmen became members, and New England the asylum." 
There is the chain. Not only the Huguenots, but also 
the Pilgrims and Puritans, with their incalculable influ- 
ence upon the life of the nation, are under deepest obli- 
gations to that Frenchman, John Calvin. 

It is to Calvin, indeed, far more than to Luther, that 
America owes the Protestantism that is the foundation 
of its liberties and life. The Dutch brought in the Luth- 
eran element, but their influence religiously was much 
less in the development of the national character than 



A FACTOR IN AMERICAN CIVILIZATION 425 

that of the New England Puritans, who were the spiritual 
offspring of Calvinism. It must be remembered that 
Henry VIII did not free England from the Roman Cath- what Henry 

, ,^. . n -,,.. VIII Did for 

olic church by substituting a reformed religion or a radical Reform 
reform in morals. He only set himself up as a spiritual 
head instead of the Pope at Rome. He simply ^' became 
pope in his own dominions, and heresy was still accounted 
the foulest of crimes. Almost all the Roman Catholic 
doctrines were asserted, except the supremacy of the 
bishop of Rome. The Pope could praise Henry VIII for ^ 

orthodoxy while he excommunicated him for disobedi- 
ence. It was Henry's pride to defy the authority of the 
Roman bishop, and yet to enforce the doctrines of the 
Roman church." Thus Luther would very likely have 
perished by fire had he been an Englishman instead of 
German. Henry limited the privilege of reading the 
Bible to merchants and nobles. It was under Edward VI, 
England's only Puritan king, that the way was opened Edward vi 
to changes within the church in England ; and these 
changes were wrought through Calvinism. In the regency 
the reforming party had the majority, and Calvin, burn- 
ing with zeal to include England with the Reformers of 
the continent, urged a uniform confession of Christian 
doctrine. " As for me," wrote Calvin to Cranmer, '' if I 
can be made use of, I will sail through ten seas to bring 
this about." The forty-two articles promulgated as the The Forty- 
creed of the English church were Calvinistic, and the ^° 
Book of Common Prayer, revised by Cranmer, did away 
with most of the Romish superstitions. Calvin said of it : 
"The Anglican liturgy wants the purity which was to 
have been wished for, yet its fooleries can be borne with." 
So much had been gained that he could put up with the 
unwillingness of the English Puritans to separate them- 
selves altogether from the Roman usages. Many of the 
English people, however, demanded a more complete re- 
form, and this culminated in the Puritan revolt which led 
to exile and colonization in America, where religious 



426 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



Luther and 

Calvin 

Differentiated 



Calvinism 
Republican 



liberty was to be a foundation stone. It was the sim- 
plicity of worship in the Eeformed churches of France 
and Switzerland that set the type for the Puritans of 
England. 

The difference between the Lutheran and Calvinistic 
types of reform is finely brought out by Bancroft, ' in one 
of his most discriminating passages : 

"The reform had made great advances among the 
French and the Swiss. Both Luther and Calvin brought 
the individual into immediate relation with God ; but 
Calvin, under a more stern and militant form of doctrine, 
lifted the individual above pope and prelate, and priest 
and presbyter, above Catholic Church and national 
church and general synod, above indulgences, remissions, 
and absolutions from fellow -mortals, and brought him 
into the immediate dependence upon God, whose eternal, 
irreversible choice is made by himself alone, not arbi- 
trarily, but according to his own highest wisdom and 
justice. Luther spared the altar, and hesitated to deny 
the real presence ; Calvin with superior dialectics, ac- 
cej)ted as a commemoration and a seal the rite which the 
Catholics revered as a sacrifice. Luther favoured mag- 
nificence in public worship, as an aid to devotion ; Cal- 
vin, the guide of republics, avoided in their churches all 
appeals to the senses, as a peril to pure religion. Luther 
condemned the Eoman Church for its immorality ; Cal- 
vin for its idolatry. Luther exposed the folly of super- 
stition, ridiculed the hair shirt and the scourge, the pur- 
chased indulgence, and dearly -bought, worthless masses 
for the dead ; Calvin shrunk from their criminality with 
impatient horror. Luther permitted the cross and the 
taper, pictures and images, as things of indifference ; 
Calvin demanded a spiritual worship in its utmost 
purity. Luther left the organization of the church to 
princes and governments ; Calvin reformed doctrine, 



' History of the United States, Vol. I, p. 312fE. 




GREAT-GRAXDi-ATHER OF JOIIAXXIS De PEYSTER 
Tlic First of This Family in Xevj York 




SOME OF THE De PEYSTER FAMILY PLATE 



A FACTOE IN AMERICAN CIVILIZATION 427 

ritual and practice ; and, by establishing ruling elders 
in each church and an elective synod, he secured to his 
polity a representative character, which combined au- 
thority with popular rights. Both Luther and Calvin Religion of a 

Free State 

insisted that, for each one, there is and can be no other 
priest than himself ; and, as a consequence, both agreed 
in the parity of the clergy. Both were of one mind that, 
should pious laymen choose one of their number to be 
their minister, ' the man so chosen would be as truly a 
priest as if all the bishops in the world had consecrated 
him.' " 

This clearly shows how the Protestantism that had 
become distinctive in America was the direct result of Popular 
the teaching and polity of the French reformer, theolo- 
gian and statesman who has been one of the foremost and 
most potent agencies in human civilization. It was be- 
cause Richelieu, the keen statesman of France, saw that 
the Huguenot faith was in its very nature opposed to 
royal absolutism, and that the divine right of kings could 
not exist if the people came to hold the divine sovereignty 
taught by Calvin, that he was willing to go to all lengths 
to crush it out of France. Thus directly and indirectly 
the French have contributed to America the i:)rinciples 
of religious and civil liberty upon which all our institu- 
tions are founded. Of far deeper influence than that 
which came through immigration has been the influence 
of that reform in religion which began in France before 
the day of Luther, and which had its supreme leader 
in John Calvin, who found opportunity to do through 
the Swiss Republic what he could not do in Rome-bound 
France, his native laud. 



APPENDIX 



French Aid in the Revolution 

A volume published in Paris in 1903, entitled Les Combattants Francois 
de la Guerre Americaine gives a full list of French ofBcers, sailors and ves- 
sels engaged in the War of the Revolution, together with a list of the 
officers and men who aided the Army. There were sixty-two vessels 
armed, manned and equipped by France in aid of the American colonies, 
and there were thirteen regiments of soldiers. Both vessels and troops 
were offlcerod by Frenchmen. 

The Artist Durand 
The Durand family of New Jersey, which numbered several members 
who took rank among the remarkably skillful American mechanicians 
and artists, was descended from Huguenots who came to this country 
early in the eighteenth century. The two members best known were 
Cyrus Durand, who became a silversmith, and later engaged in the con- 
struction of machinery during the period prior to the War of 1812 ; and 
Asher Brown Durand, who began as engraver, and became a painter of 
distinction. He was called " one of the fathers of American landscape," 
having for nearly fifty years devoted himself to landscape painting. He 
produced the best known engraving in the United Htates, that of John 
Trumbull's famous painting of " The Declaration of Independence." 
His portraits of Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, James Madison, 
Edward Everett, and Bryant were also notable. He lived to be ninety. 
He died in South Orange in 1886. 

Judge Tourgek 
A Huguenot descendant who won more than ordinary distinction as an 
author and patriot was Judge Albion W. Tourgee, whose book of the re- 
construction period, A Fool's Errand, had a sale of more than 200,000 
copies, unprecedented in that day. As bearing on the race problem, 
the KuKlux Klan, and the difficulties of sectionalism, it produced a pro- 
found effect. Judge Tourgee served in the army, was severely wounded, 
and never wholly recovered from the effects of campaign life. He was 
appointed United States Consul at Halifax, and later at Bordeaux, 
France, the land of his ancestors, where ho died in 1905. 

Some Sentences from Thoreau's Diary 

We must be at the helm at least once a day ; we must feel the tiller 
rope in our hands, and know that if we sail, we steer. 

429 



430 , APPEI^DIX 

How vain it is to 8it down to write when you liave not stood up to live. 

Silence is of various depths and fertility, like soil. 

Praise should be spoken as naturally and simply as a flower emits its 
fragrance. 

All fear of the world or consequences is swallowed up in a manly 
anxiety to do Truth justice. 

We are all pilots of the most intricate Bahama channels. Beauty may 
be the sky overhead, but Duty is the water underneath. 

The man of principle never gets a holiday. Our true character silently 
underlies all our words and actions, as the granite underlies the other 
strata. 

Paul Revere 

The Paul Revere Memorial Association has been formed in Boston, 
with purpose to purchase and preserve the old home of Paul Revere. 
This is believed to be the oldest building now in Boston. It was erected 
between 1679 and 1681. A fund of $30,000 will be raised, and the build- 
ing will be devoted to educational and historical usefulness. 

Paul Revere engraved the plates, made the press, and printed the first 
promissory notes of the State of Massachusetts Bay, when the exigen- 
cies of the struggle for independence made paper currency necessary. 
He had a shop on what is now Oornhill, and this was the ample sign over 
the door : 

Paul Revere and Son, at their bell and cannon Foundry in the North 
part of Boston, Cast Bells of all sizes ; every kind of brass Ordinance, and 
every kind of composition work for ships, etc., at the briefest notice. 
Manufacture copper into Sheets, Bolts, Nails, Spikes, rivets, etc., fi'om 
Maleable Copper. 

They always keep by them every kind of copper Sheathing for ships. 
They now have on hand a number of Church and Ship Bells of different 
sizes, a large quantity of Sheathing Copper from 16 up to 30 oz. ; Bolts, 
Spikes, Nails, etc., of all sizes, which they warrant to be equal to English 
manufacture. 

Cash and the highest price given for old Copper and Brass. 

A Feench Engineer 
It is interesting to remember that America owes the noble plan of the 
national capital to a French engineer, Major Charles Pierre L'Enfant, in 
whose honour it is proposed to erect a suitable memorial in one of the 
parks which he laid out. 

The Society op Soul Winners 
Rev. Edward 0. Guerrant, D. D., a descendant of the Virginia Hugue- 
nots, originated a most interesting work among the mountain people of 
Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. The religious destitution ap- 
pealed to him, and in 1897 he started the America Inland Mission, with one 
missionary and faith for capital. The work grew, support came from un- 
expected sources, until the receipts for 1902 were above $7,000, and seventy 
faithful men and women were employed in the most destitute places. 



APPENDIX 



435 



Some English Surnames of French Derivation 

The following names of families, of French descent and derivation, 
liave been selected from Barber's British Family Names. Many of our 
American families can trace through this source French blood, in very 
many cases known to be Huguenot. Names given in the various chap- 
ters are not repeated here. The list will be of interest, whether the 
American connection can be traced or not. The abbreviations used are 
these: "H.," for Huguenot; " Prot. Ref.," Protestant Refugee; " L.," 
London. 



Agnew (from Algneau). 

Alexander (originally Alexandre). 

AUard ; Huguenot. 

AUoth (H., near Vermeil, 1688). 

AmesorEames (Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 

Angler (H., Anger). 

Annes, or Aunis (Prot. Ref, L., 1618). 

Arch(H.,L., 1618). 

Arnold (H., L., 1618). 

Arnott (H., Arnaud, L., 1657). 

Arundell (H., L., 1618). 

Astor (Norman, 1180). 

Avery (H., Norwich, 1622). 

Bailey (H., Belley, L., 1688). 

Bain (H., Norwich, 1622). 

Baird or Beard (H., L., 1618). 

Baker (Becke, Prot. Ref., Norwich, 
1622). 

Balltnger (Bellanger, Prot. Ref., L., 
1688). 

Barr (De la Barr, H., L., 1618). 

Barren (H., Barill. Canterbury, 1622). 

Barrett (Norman, Barette). 

Bassett (H., Sandwich, 1622). 

Batchelder,or Batehelor (H., Batchelier, 
L., 1682). 

Bean (Prot. Ref, Bienae, Norwich, 1622). 

Beaumont (Norman). 

Bellew, or Bellows (Norman, Bellot). 

Bellin (H., Belin. Belyn, L., 1618). 

Bence (Benson, H., Sandwich, 1662). 

Bendon, or Benton (H., L., 1618). 

Benn, Bennelt, Benny (H., Benedict, L., 
1688). 

Bevis (from Beauvais. France). 

Bezant (H., Beaussaiut). 

Billyard (H., Dover, 1622). 

Bissett (H., Bissot, L., 1618). 

Blewitt (Norman, LaBlouette). 

Boffin (H., Bovin, L., 1685). 

Bogert (H., Boygard, L., 1681). 

Bone (H., Bohon, L., 1621). 

Bonehill (H., Bonnel, L., 1618). 

Bonuer (H., Bonnard, L,., 1618). 

Boosey (H., Bussey, L., 1618). 

Bowcher, Boucher, Bowker (H., L., 
1618). 

Boyd (H.,Boyard, L., 1687). 

Brade (H., Breda, L.. 1688). 

Brain, or Brine fH., Breon, L., 1688). 

Brand (Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 

Brasier, Brazier (H., Bressuire, Nor- 
wich, 1622). 

Breeden (H., Briden, U, 1681). 

Brett (French, LeBret). 

Brewer, (Bruerlain Normandy). 

Briggs (H. Bruges, L., 1618). 



Brill (Prot. Ref, BriUe, Sandwich, 1622). 

Brothers (Brodder, ProU Ref., Sand- 
wich, 1622). 

Brown (Norman-French, LeBruu). 

Bruce (Brousse, from Breux, Nor- 
mandy). 

Brunyee (Brune, Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 

Bryan (Brionne, Normandy). 

Bryant (from Breaunt, Normandy). 

Bubier (Norman). 

Buck (LeBuc, Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 

Buckett (Bouquet, Prot. Ref, L., 1685). 

Bull (Bole, Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 

BuUer (Bolen, Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 

Burden (Fr.,Burdon). 

Burdett (Bourdet, H., L., 1685). Prob- 
able ancestry of Robert J. Burdett, 
the hunjourlst. 

Burgoyne (Norman-French). 

Burr (Bure, Belgian, Prot. Ref, L., 
1687). 

Burt (Norman French). 

Bush (Bosch, Flemish, Prot. Ref., L., 
1618) 

Bushell (H.,L.,1618). 

Busick (Boussoe, H., L., 1685). 

Butcher (H., L., 1685). 

Buttle (Butel, H., L., 1685). 

Byles (H., from Bueil, France). 

Byron (Norman French, Biron). 

Cade(H., Cadet). 

Camp (H., L., 1618). 

Campbell, and Gamble (Norman- 
French). 

Campion (Prot. Ref., Norwich, 1622). 

Cautrell (H., L., 1618). 

Capel (LaChapelle, H., L , 1618). 

Card (H., Cardes, L., 1681). 

Caron (H.. L., 1687). 

Carry, or Carr (H., L., 1685). 

Carter (Cartler, H,, L., 1618). 

Cartwright (Cauterets, Norman). 

Case (H., De la Cuse). 

Chaffe (H., I.eChauve, L., 1682). 

Chamberlain (Chambellan, H., L.,1618). 

Chambers (H., Chambray, L., 1618). 

Chaplin (Norman-French, Capelen). 

Chattin (H., Chattaine, I.., 1618). 

Cheney (Fr., Chesnais). 

Choffin (H., Chauvin, L., 1684). 

Churchill (Nor. Fr., DeCourcelle). 

Clark (H., Norwich, 1622). 

Clements (Flem., Clement, Prot. Ref., 
L., 1618). 

Cloake (H., Clocke, L., 1618). 

Close (Prot. Ref, L., 1618). 

Closson (Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 



436 



APPENDIX 



Cocker (H., Norwich, 1622). 

Oockerell (Fr., Coqueril). 

Cockle (Cokele, Prot. Kef., Norwich, 

1622). 
Codd (H., L.,1618). 
Cogger (Coege, Flem. Kef., L., 1618). 
Cole (Flem. Kef., L., 1618). 
CoUey (H., Colleye, 1618). 
Collier, Colwer (Fr., CoUioure). 
Coppinger(Flem. Kef., L., 1618). 
Corbett (Fr., raven). 
Corbiu (Norman-French). 
Corke (H., Corque, L., 1618). 
Courage (H., Correges). 
Courteney, or Courtinay, or Courtney 

(H., name). 
Coward (H., Chouard, 1688). 
Cozens (Cousin, H., 1688). 
Creamer (Prot. Kef., L., 1618). 
Cross (Prot. Kef., St. Croix, 1618). 
t'rowley (Fr., Crulai). 
Crudge (Prot. Kef., I,., 1688). 
Cruso (Creusot, Prot. Kef., Norwich, 

1622). 
Culley (Flemish Couillet). 
Curtis (H., Courtois, Norwich, 1622). 
Cushing (Nor. Fr., LeCuchon). 

D.\GG (Dague, H., Canterbury, 1622). 
Dagget (Dackett, Flem. Kef., Norwich, 

1622). 
Dams (D'Ames, Prot. Ref., Norwich, 

1622). 
Dangerfield (DangerviUe). 
Daniel (H., L.,1618). 
Danvers (from An vers, France). 
Dennis (St. Denis, H., L., 1682). 
Derlyu, Darling (H., Norwich, 1622). 
Derrick (H., L., 1622). 
Devine (Desvignes, H., Norwich, 1622). 
Dewey (Belgian, Proi. Ref., Dhuy, L., 

1618). 
Dewfall (Duval, Prot. Ref., L., 1687). 
Doubleday (Doublet, H., L.,1685). 
Doughty ( Daude, H., L., 1687). 
Doy (H., L , 1G18). 
Drake (Nor. Fr., Fitz-Drac, Prot. Ref., 

L., 1618). 
Draper (Drapler, H., Dover, 1622). 
Drew (Dreux, H , Norwich, 1622). 
Drewry, or Drury (DeRouvray, Nor. 

Fr.). 
Driver (DeRivers, Nor. Fr.). 
Drought (H., Droart, L., 1618). 
Durraut, or Durant (Durand, Fr.). 
Durrell (Durell, H., L., 1687). 

Emery (H., L., 1685). 

Eve (Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 

Eversou (Prot. Ref., Flemish, L., 1618). 

Ewing, or Ewen (Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 

Fabb (H., Fabri, L., 1678). 

Fairy ( Verry or Ferry H., D., 1618). 

Fanning (Norman). 

Farjon (Fargeon, H., L., 1685). 

Faulkner (Fauconnier, H., L., 1681). 

Favvcett, Fassett (Fr. Fossord). 

Fear(H., L.,ltil8). 

Fellows, Fellowes (H., D., 1687). 

Fenn (Fene, H., Norwich, 1622). 

Ferrett (11., Dover, 1622). 

Filbert (Fr.,St. Phllbert). 

Finch (Fl., DeVinck, Prot. Ref., L., 1622). 

Flowers (H., L.,1618). 

Fleury (H., L.,1687). 



Foggs, Fogg (H , Foucat, L., 1685). 

Foljambe (Nor. Fr., Fulgent). 

Forman, Furch (Forment, H., L., 1618). 

Fox (Flemish, H., L., 1618). 

Foy, Faith (H., L., 1618). 

Freeman (Fl., Freyman, Prot. Kef., 

Norwich, 1622). 
Fremont fFr., Frimont). 
Fromant (Fromeau, H., L., 1618). 
Frusher (H., Fruchat, L., 1687). 
Fuller (Fr., Fouleur). 
Furber (H., Foubert, L., 1618). 



Gabbett (H., Gabet, L., 1688). 
Gaches (H., Gauchez, L., 1688). 
Galley (H., Gallais, L., 1687). 
Gallyon (H. , Gaillen, L., 1618). 
Galpin (H., Galopin, L., 1684). 
Garrard (H., L.,1618). 
Garret (Fr., Caret). 
Garrick (Fr., Garrigues). 
Gaskia (Fr., DeGascoigge, from Ga8» 

cony). 
German (H., Germon, L., 1618). 
Giddings, or Giddens (H., Guidon, L., 

1687). 
Gififord (Giffard, full cheeked). 
Gillot (diminutive of Gill, H., L., 1618). 
Gilyard (Gilliard, H., L., 1687). 
Gimlett (Gimlette, H., L., 1618). 
Glass (H., Glace, L., 1618). 
Goacher, Goucher (Fr.,Goucher, H., L., 

1618). 
Goddard (H., Godart, L., 1618). 
Godfrey (Fr., Godefroy, H., L., 1681). 
Coding (Fl., Codding, Prot. Kef., L, 

1685). 
Goodenough, Moodenow (Fr., Godi- 

neau). 
Goodfellow (Fr., Bonenfant). 
Goodhew, or Gooehue (Fr., Godeheu). 
Goss, or Goose (H,, Norwich, 1622). 
Gosling (Gosselin, Prot. Ref., L., 1622). 
Gower, Cowers (Fl., Prot. Ref., Govaerts, 

L.,1618). 
Grant (Fr., Grands). 
Grave, or Graves (Nor. Fr., De la 

Greve). 
Gray (H.,L., 1618). 
Gruel (H.. Gruelle, L., 1628). 
Gubbins (H., DeCobion, L., 1618). 
Gueria (H., Gueron, L., 1628). 
Gurner, or Gurney (H., L., 1618). 
Cye (H., Cay, L.,1684). 



Hague (H., LeHague, Prot. Kef., L., 
1621). From this family came the 
eloquent preacher. Rev. Wil onn 
Hague, D. D., Baptist historian and 
minister. 

Hall (Fl., Prot. Ref, L., 1699). 

Hamblett (H., Hamlett, L., 1622). 

Hanchett (Prot. Ref., Hansett, L., 1618). 

Hardy (Nor. Fr., bold, strong; H., L., 
1684). 

Harry (Harrye, H., L., 1681). 

Harvey (H., Herve, L., 1881). 

Hassatt (Prot. Ref, Sandwich, 1622). 

Hay (De la Haye, H., Dover, 1622). 

Hayes (Hees, H., L., 1618). 

Hebbert (Hebart, Prot. Kef, L., 1685) 

Herbert (Herbart, Prot. Ref, Canter- 
bury, 1622). 

Hewett (H , Huet, L., 1621). 

Hood (H.jiUde, L., 1618). 



APPENDIX 



437 



Hook fH., Hue. L., 1R18). 

Hooppell ( H., Dover, 1622). 

Howell (H., L.,1618). 

Howes (Fl., Housse, Prot. Ref., Canter- 
bury 1622). 

Howltt (H., Canterbury, 1622). 

Hubbara, Hubert (H., Houbart, L., 
1618). 

Hidden, or Iddon (Nor., Hidden, Prot. 
Bef., L., 1618). 

Jackman (H., Jacquement, Canterbury, 

1622). 
Jacobs (FI., Prot., Ref., L., 1618). 
James (St. James, Prot. Ref., L., 1621). 
Jarvis (H., Gerveis, L., 1688). 
Jasper (Fl., Jaspard, H., L., 1621). 
Jay (Jeyen, H., L., 1621). 
Jolly (H., L., 1681). 
JoyceVNor., Joyeuse). 
Joy (H., L., 1685). 
Julian (Fr., Julien). 
Juliet (H., L., 1618). 

Kino (Fl. Ref., L., 1618). 

Lacy, or Lacey (Nor., Lessay, DeLacey) 
Lambert (Fr., St. Lambert, Fl. Ref.,L., 

1618 ; General Lambert, Governor ot 

York). 
Landers (from Landre in Burgundy). 
Lane (Fr., Laigne). 
Larter (LaTour, H., L., 1618). 
Lawrence, Laurence (Fr.,Laurentin, H., 

L.,1618). 
Laws (Prot. Ref., Norwich, 1622). 
Lawson (Not. Fr., Loison). 
Laycock (H., Lecocq, Dover, 1622). 
L'Amoreaux, Lamoreau (H., [,., 1687). 
Lepper (H., Lepere, L., 1618). 
Les.sey (H., Lesee, L., 1621). 
Lewis (DeLuis, H., Norwich, 1622). 
Littlejohn (Fr., Petitjean). 
Living (Fl., H., Livain, Norwich, 1622). 
Loe, or Low (H., DeLoe, L., 1618). 
Lofting ( Prot. Ref, L., 1688). 
Long (DeLonga, Prot. Ref, L., 1621). 
Longfellow (H., Longueville, L., 1685). 
Luce, Loose (Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 
Lovebond (H., Lovingsbone, L., 1621). 
Lovell (H., Louvel, L., 1618). 
Lower f Fl. Ref, L., 1618). 
Lucy (Louiset, Prot. Ref., L., 1634). 
Lombard, Lombard (H., Lombuart, L., 

1687). 
Lyon (Prot. Ref., Norwich, 1662). 

Mace (H., Mes, L., 1618). 

Mackley fFl., Prot. Ref, L., 1618). 

Maitland (H., Mattalent, Nantes). 

Major (H.,L., 1688). 

Male (DeMaisIe, H., Dover, 1622). 

Marcon (Marquent, Prot. Ref., Canter- 
bury, 1622). 

Marlow (Fr., Marlieux). 

Marr (H., Marre, L., 1618). 

Marshall (H., Marechal, L., 1618). 

Martin (H., St. Martin, L., 1688). 

Martineau (Fr., Martigne). Family of 
famous James Martineau, philoso- 
pher. 

Massey (H., Macey, L., 1684). 

Mason (H., Macon, L., 1618). 

Mate (H., Mette, L., 1618). 

Maule, or Moll (H., L., 1618). 

Mayhew, or Mayo (H., Mahleu, Mayeuz, 
Norwich. 1622). 



Mayne (H., Mayenne, L., 1687). 

Maynard (H., Menard, Dover, 1622). 

Means ( Prot. Ref, Minnens, L., 1687). 

Mear (H., L„ 1618). 

Meen (H., Migiie, L., 1618). 

Merritt, Merry (Marit and Meret). 

Mercier (H., L., 1618). 

Meyrick (DeMeric, Prot. Ref., L., 1621). 

Michel], Mitchell (H., L., 1618). 

Miles (Norman French). General Miles 
is of this blood. 

Mills (Fl., Miles, Prot. Ref., Norwich, 
1622). 

Minett (Minet, Prot. Ref, L., 1688). 

Minter (Minder, Prot. Ref, L., 1618). 

Molineux (Moliuer, Prot. Ref, L., 1618). 

Money (H., Monnaye, L., 1618). 

Munsey, or Monsey (H. L., 1618). 

Montague (Monlaign). 

Moon, Moeu (Fl., Moine, H., Sandwich, 
1622). 

Moore (Fl., Mor; H., More, L., 1618). 

Morrell (H., Morel, U, 1618). 

Morriss, Morris (Meurisse, H., Canter- 
bury, 1622). 

Moss (Norman-French). 

Mott (De la Motte, H., L., 1621). 

Mountain (H., Montaigne, L., 1618). 

Mouse (H., Mousse, Moze, L., 1687). 

Munn (Prot. Ref, L., 1618). 

Myhill, Mayall (H., L., 1618). 



Neale (DeNeel, H., L., 1688). 
Nollett (Fr., NoUeau, H., L., 1687). 

Omveb, Olivier (H.. L., 1682). 

Onions (Angiens, Norman). 

Overy (H., Ouvry, L., 1618). 

Osborne (Osbern), Osier (rOiselor),Nor- 



Page (H., LePage, L., 1688). 

Paine (Fr., Pain, H., L., 1618). 

Paley, Pallett (H., Paillette, L., 1R88). 

Palmer (lePaumier, Fl. Ref, L., 1618). 

Parry (H., Parre, L., 1687). 

PasKell (H., Paschal, L., 1687). 

Pate (Patte, H., Canteroury, 1622). 

Paton, Patton, Peyton (H., Canterbury, 
1622). 

Pattison (Fl. Ref, L., 1618). 

Paul (H., St. Paul, L., 1618). 

Paulett (Poulet, H., L., 1687). 

Peacock (Fl. Ref, L., 1618). 

Pear (A., Pierre, L., 1687). 

Pears, Pearse (Fl., Piers, Peres, H., L., 
1688). 

Pearson (Pierresene, Prot. Ref, L., 1688). 

Peberdy, Peabod5' (Nor. Fr , Pabode). 

Penny (Peigne, Peno, Prot. Ref. Nor- 
wich, 1622). 

Perkins, Peterkin (little Peter, Fl.). 

Perowne (H.. Peronnez, L., 1618). 

Peters (Peeters, Prot, Ref, L., 1518). 

Pettit (H., Petit, 1618). 

Phantam, Vendome, Vandam (Prot. 
Ref.L., 1618). 

Phillips (Fitz-Philip, Prot. Ref, L.. 

1618). 
Picard (H., Picard. L., 1621). 
Picken, Pickens (Fr., Pi<3K'u). 
Pickett, Pigott (H., Pegot or Pigot, L., 

1685). 
Pillow (H., Pilot. 1622). 
Pinchen, Pvnchon (H., Pincon or 

Plnchon, 1622). 



438 



APPENDIX 



Pinner (Pineur, Prot. Ref., Norwich 

1622). 
Plummer (H., le Plumer, I,., 1682). 
Plunkett, or Plunkitt (Nor. fr., de 

Plugenet). 
Pollard (H., L., 1618). 
Pond (Fl., Pont, Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 
Poole (Poule, Prot. Ref., !■., 1621). 
Porter (H., Portier, Norwich, 1622). 
Pott (Fl., Pot, Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 
Potter (Fr., Potier). 

Poulter (H., Poultier, Canterbury, 1683). 
Powell (H., Puel, L , 1618). 
Pratt (H., DuPrat, L., 1687). 
Prevost (H., Rve, 1621). 
Prim, Prime (H., L., 1618). 
Prince (H. Prms, L., 1618). 
Prue (H., Preux L., 1687). 
Pullen, Pullein (H., Poullain, L., 1622). 

Qdincey (from Quince in Maine ; 
DeQuincey). 

Eanney (H., Rene, Renie, Fl., Renaix, 
Jj., 1688). 

Reason (DeReasne, Prot. Ref., L.,16I8). 

Reay, Ray (DeRea, Ray, H., L., 1688). 

Rebbecli (H., Rebache, L., 1688). 

Revill, Revell (H., Revel, Reville, L., 
1618). 

RIcket (Ricquart, H., Canterbury, 1622). 

Robin (H., Robain, L., 1687). 

Robinson (Robyns, Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 

Roche, Roach (H., de la Roche, L., 1687). 
Possibly the family from which .Tohn 
Roach, or Roche, the American ship- 
builder, was descended. 

Rogers (Fr., Rogier). 

Rose (Nor., Ros, Rose, H , L., 1684). 

Roswell, Russell (Rousselle, H , Canter- 
bury, 1622). 

Rouse (H., LeRoux, Tj , 1618). 

Rowan, Rowen (H., Rouen, ti , 1618). 

Rowell (H., Rouelles, L., 1687). 

Rowland (H., Dover, 1622). 

Rowley (from Norman ReuUly). 



Sach (Sac, Prot. Ref., L., 1«18). 

Sartoris (H., Sartorius, L., 1684). 

Savage (Fr., Sauvage). 

Seymour, Saymer, Simore (H., 1618). 

Seeley (H., Sill, L., 1688). 

Seguin (H., L.. 1688). 

Sherrard (Sheraret, F., Prot., L., 1618) 

South (H., L., 1618). 

Spear, Speer (Fl., Spiers, Prot. Ref., L., 

1622). 
Stephens (H., K, 1618). 
Sturgeon (H , Lestourgeon. L., 1683). 
Summers (H., Somers, L., 1618). 
Summerville (from Sommervieux. 

Nor.). 
Symonds, Simonds (H., Simon, Ii.,1618). 



Taber (Taborer, Prot. Ref., L., 1678). 

Tardy (H., L., 1688). 

Taverner (H., Tavernier, 1,,, 1622). 

Terry (H., Terri.ss, L., 1618). 

Thompson (H., L., 1618). 

Tibbies (H., L., 1618). 

Tiffen (H., L.. 1618). 

Tolver (H.,Tolleve, Norwich, 1622). 

Torrey (Thouret, Prot. Ref., f,., 1618). 

Tree (Tre, Prot. Ref., L., 1618). 

Tyron (H., Trion, L., 1618). 

TuUey (H., Tulye, L., 1618). 

Turnbull (Nor., Tournebu). 

Tyrrell, Tirrell (Fr., Tirel). 



Valentine (H., 1618). 

Valiant (H., Vaillant, 16811. 

Vawdrey (H., DeValdarrie, Norwich, 

1622). 
Vernon (H.. L., 1618). 
ViaIKH,, Viel. L., 1684). 
Vincent (H., St. Vincent. Z, , 1618). 
Vye (H., De la Fuye,Ii., 1683). 



Walters (Wauters, Prot., Ref., L. 
1621). 



APPENDIX 439 

Some Eminent Huguenot Names 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's mother was a lineal descendant of John 
Alden and Priseilla Moliues, and the strain of Huguenot blood accounts 
for some of the finest qualities in the character of New England's most 
loved poet. 

The good Quaker poet of New England, John Greenleaf Whittier, was 
proud of the Huguenot blood he inherited from Thomas Whittier, the 
ancestor who settled in Salisbury in the days of the early colonists. 
Through the peaceful training of the Quaker the Gallic blood pulsed 
swiftly when wrong was to be righted, and liberty of conscience as well 
as of person was inwrought into his religious creed. 

Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, the historian, author of The History of Neio 
York, and for many years editor of the Magazine of American History, 
which became of much value under her control, was of Huguenot descent 
through her mother's family, the Vintons. She was deeply interested in 
the Huguenots and many articles in the magazine were devoted to them. 
She was a leader in establishing the Huguenot Library now in possession 
of the Huguenot Society of America, and served on the Library Commit- 
tee until her death in 1893. She was secretary of the first Sanitary Fair 
in 1863 : noted for philanthropic and public spirit. 

General Frederick Dent Grant traces his Huguenot descent through 
the family of DeLille and of De la Noye (Delano), who was a member of 
the Narragansett Settlement. 

Of the Presidents of the United States, there is a strain of Huguenot 
blood in John Adams, Garfield, and Eoosevelt — the latter representing 
the best type of the mingling of the Dutch and French races. 

Hon. Richard Olney, Secretary of State under President Cleveland, and 
one of the foremost lawyers of New England, traces direct descent to 
Andrew Sigourney, who was one of the settlers in Oxford. With the late 
Senator Bayard, this makes two Secretaries of State of recent date who 
were of Huguenot blood. 

A Historic Huguenot Chair 
In the rooms of the Bostonian Society there is a very old Huguenot 
chair, which was brought to Boston from Lyons, France, in 1685, by a 
Mr. Waldo, whose family was said to belong to the Waldenses, and who 
left France to escape religious persecution. His son, Nathan, born in 
Boston, emigrated to Connecticut, taking the chair with him. Later it 
became successively the property of Nathan's son Edward ; of Edward's 
daughter Johanna, wife of Josiah Cleveland, and of her daughter Thank- 
ful, wife of Thaddeus Palmer; and of Thankful's daughter Lucy, who 
gave it to Rev. John Cleveland, D. D., of Providence, R. I. More recently 
it belonged to the late Mrs. Jane G. Alden, Novelist, and is now loaned 
to the Bostonian Society by her daughter, Mrs. Albert DeSilva, of Rox- 
bury, by whose permission a picture has been obtained, which may be 
seen elsewhere in this volume. 



440 ^ APPEOT)IX 

The Huguenot Society of America 

This Society was organized in 1883. Rev. Alfred V. Wittmeyer, Ph. D., 
pastor of the French Church in New York, was the founder. Honour- 
able John Jay was the first president, and Dr. Wittmeyer, secretary. 
Henry G. Marquand was the second president, and Frederick J. de Peyster 
the third. The Society has done much to bring the Huguenot descendants 
into acquaintance and fellowship, has fostered family pride and stimu- 
lated research, and has created a racial consciousness. Its publications 
have ailorded a medium of historical value. Through its exercises in 
commemoration of the Bi-Centenary of the Eevocation of the Edict of 
Nantes (held in New York in 1885), and of the Ter-Centenary of the Pro- 
mulgation of the Edict (held in New York in 1898), attention was widely 
drawn to the subject of the Huguenots in America. The membership is 
national, and about four hundred names are on the rolls, including many 
families prominent in various sections of the United States. 

The present officers are : President, Colonel WilUam Jay ; "Vice-Presi- 
dents, George S. Bowdoin, Theodore M. Banta, Hon. H. W. Bookstaver; 
Henry M. Lester, Esq., New Paltz ; Hon. A. T. Clearwater, Kingston; 
Nathaniel Thayer, Boston ; Hon. Richard Olney, Boston ; WilUam Ely, 
Providence ; Prof. Allen Marquand, Princeton ; Col. H. A. Dupont, 
Delaware ; Herbert Dupuy, Pittsburg ; Col. Richard L. Maury, Rich- 
mond, Va. ; Rev. Robert Wilson, Charleston, S. C. ; Treasurer, T. J. Oakley 
Rhinelander ; Secretary, Mrs. James M. Lawton, New York; Chaplain, 
Rt. Rev. Bishop James H. Darlington. 

The honourary members are : Rev. A. V. Wittmeyer, founder ; Prof. 
Henry M. Baird, the historian; A. Giraud Browning, president Hugue- 
not Society of London ; Meschinet de Richemond, LaRochelle, France ; 
LeBaron De Schickler, Paris ; LeDocteur Beringuier, BerUn, president 
German Huguenot Society ; LePasteur N. Weiss, Paris ; Rev. Charles S. 
Vedder, pastor Huguenot Church of Charleston, S. C. ; James S. Van 
Courtland. The list of deceased members includes Dr. Thomas 
Gallaudet, Hon. EUsha Dyer, Prof. Joseph LeConte, Hon. Sir Henry 
Austen Layard, Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, Rev. William Hague, Hon. 
Abraham S. Hewitt, Col. Johnston L. DePeyster, Prof. D. D. Demarest, 
Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, Dr. Edward Bayard, Dr. Charles W. Baird, the 
historian, H. LeGrand Cannon, Henry G. Marquand, Bishop Quintard, 
and Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, a lineal descendant of Pierre 
Baudoin (Bowdoin). The late Mrs. Robert Anderson, wife of General 
Anderson, was a long time member. 

The Bi-Centexary Commemoeation in New York 

The names of the General Committee of Arrangements indicate the 
character of the Huguenot representatives of the present time, and show 
also how fully the original Huguenot settlements were represented. For 
these reasons the list will be of interest : 

Members representing the Huguenot Society of America — Joseph H. 



APPENDIX 



441 



Gautier, M. D. ; Ashbel G. Vermilye, D. D. ; Frederic J. de Peyster ; 
Benjamin F. de Costa, D. D. ; Pierre Lorillard ; LeGrand B.Cannon; 
Lawrence Turnure; Louis Mesier; Prof. David D. Demarest, D. D. ; 
Rt. Rev. Charles T. Quintard, LL. D.; Prof. Charles A. Briggs, D. D. ; 
Henry G. DeForest; Peter W. Gallaudet; Rt. Rev. Edmund de Schwein- 
itz, D. D. ; Walter S. Gurnee ; Henry G. Marquand ; Morey Hale Bartow ; 
Rev. Alfred V. Wittmeyer, Ph. D, 

Members representing the original Huguenot Settlements in America — 
New York : Hon. John Jay, Edward F. deLancey. Staten Island : Hon. 
Chauncey M. Depew, R. H. Disosway. Long Island : Augustus Rapelve, 
Henry E. Pierrepont. New Rochelle : Henry M. LeCount, Henry M. 
Lester. New Paltz: Abram duBois, M. D., Ralph LoFevre. Boston: 
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, George S. Bowdoin. New Oxford : Hon. 
Richard Gluey, John G. Whittier. Narragansett : William Ely, Thomas 
M. Potter, D. D. Maine : Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, Gov. Joshua Cham- 
berlain. Delaware : Hon. Thomas F. Bayard. Pennsylvania : Charles 
M. duPuy, William R. Valleau. Virginia : Charles M. Maury. Charles- 
ton, S. C. : Robert N. Gourdin, Daniel Ravenel. Purysburg, S. C. : Cor- 
nelius J. Huguenin, Wilmot de Saussure. New Bordeaux, S. C. : J. A. 
Gibert, M. D., Rev. Benjamin Allston. 

Present Members of the Huguenot Society of America 



Adams, Mrs. George F. (Demarest). 
Adams, Washington I. L. (Flandreau). 
Alden, Mrs. Charles H. (Cazneau, Ger- 

mon). 
Allen, Dr. Paul (Byssel). 
Anderson, Miss Maria L. (Bayard, 

Polngdextre). 
Ashbridge, Miss Mary P. (Pechio). 
Atterbury, Mrs. Auson P. (Bayard). 
Atterbury, John T., Lewis B., Rev. W. 

W. (Boudinot, Carre). 
Aymar, Benjamin, Miss Elizabeth, Miss 
Harriet, Jose (Aymar, Magny). 

Bacot, Wm. Sinclair (Bacot, De Saus- 
sure). 

Bailey, Pearce, M. D. (Jerauld, Dutee). 

Balch, Thos. Willing (de Frouville). 

Bangs, Mrs. Fletcher (Gaineau). 

Banta, Theodore M. ( Demarest, Sohier). 

Barbour, Wm. Delamater (de la Maitre, 
du Bois). 

Barbour, Mrs. William (Mercereau). 

Barren, Harry Ferdinand (Rapalle, 
Trico). 

Bascome, Mrs. Western (De Lancey). 

Bent, Mrs. Richard M. (Dombois). 

Berrien, William Mitchell (Berrien). 

Bishop, Mrs. Wm. D., Jr. (Gratiot). 

Bissell, Mrs. Sanford (Byssel). 

Blackwell, Mi.ss R. R. (Bayard). 

Blackwell, Wm. Bayard (Bayard). 

Blodgett, Mrs. F. J. (Aymar, Belon). 

Blood, John Balch (Molinesi. 

Bogert, Theodore P. (Benezet, Testard, 
Crommelin). 

Bolmer, Mrs. Gertrude (Iiaborie, Durand, 
Gilet). 

Bontecou, Fred. T. (Bontecou, Collinot). 

Bookstaver, Hon. Henry W. (Bodine, 
Felter). 



Boucher, Miss S. (Quentin, Quereau). 

Boughton, C. V. (Bouton). 

Boughton, Wm. Hart (Bouton). 

Bowdoin, George S. (Baudoin). 

Bowdoin, Miss Isabel G. (Baudoin). 

Bowdoin, Temple (Baudoin). 

Boyd, Herbert Hart (Chevalier). 

Brewster, Saml. Dwight (Pinneo). 

Brokaw, Howard C. (Broucard, Le 
Febre). 

Brokaw, Irving (Broucard, Le Febre). 

Brokaw, Isaac Vail (Broucard, Le 
Febre). 

Brokaw, William Vail (Broucard, Le 
Febre). 

Brown, Dr. P. Richard, U.S. A. (Rich- 
ard, De Bruyn ). 

Bull, Dr. Charles S. (Seguin, Mercereau). 

Burruss, Mrs. Nathaniel (Perrin, 
Thorel). 

Cameron, Mrs. M. P. B. B. (Papillon). 
Campbell, Mrs. H. Godwin (Mercereau). 
Cannon, Col. Le Grand B. (Le Grand, 

Cannon, Bouton). 
Casey, Mrs. Joseph J. ( Venable). 
Cattus, Miss Emma E., Mrs. John 0. 

(Aymar, Vincent). 
ClarKson, Banyer (Jay, Bayard). 
Clarkson, Mrs. E. L. de P. (De Peyster). 
Clarkson, Matthew (Jay, Bayard). 
Clearwater, Hon. A. T. (Baudoin, 

Bridon). 
Clinch, Rev. N. Bayard (Bayard, De 

Peyster, Chevalier). 
Cockroft, Miss E. (De Vaux, Tourneur, 

Colyer). 
Coles, Henry R. R. (De Peyster, De 

Rapalye). 
Cooper, Miss Marian N. B. (Jay, Bayard, 

De Kay). 



442 



APPEl^DIX 



Coutant, Dr. Richard B. (Coutant, Bon- 

nefoy). 
Coxford, Mrs. William (Perrin, Thorel). 
Cutting, Robert Fulton (Bas'ard, Pin- 

tard). 
Cutting, William Bayard (Bayard, Pin- 

tard). 

Danfobth, Mrs. Elliot (Mercereau, 

La Tourette). 
Darlington, Charles F. (Reyneau). 
Darlington, Rev. James H. (Reyneau). 
Dashiell, Nicholas L. (De Lecheilles). 
Daw, George W. (Das). 
DeBenneville, James S. (DeBenneville). 
de Forest, Robert W. (de Forest, Bertho- 

let). 
De Lamater, Ezra Doane (he Maistre). 
De Luze, Philip Schuyler (de Luze ). 
Demarest, Rev. Wm. H. S. ( Des Marets). 
Demonet, Eugene A. (Faure). 
De Peyster, Frederic J. and family (de 

Peyster). 
De Peyster, Gen. John Watts (de Peys- 
ter, de Lancey). 
De Peyster, Miss M.Justine (De Peyster, 

de Lancey). 
Depew, Hon. Chauncey M. 
Devotion, Mis.ses Elizabeth, Harriet and 

Sarah (Devotion). 
Deyo, Robert Emmet (Doyau, du Bols). 
De Zouche, John J. (de Souche). 
Dickinson, Charles D. (Laurier). 
Dodge, Francis Edward (d'Espard). 
Dominick, Bayard (Dominique, Blanch- 

ard). 
Dominick, Henry B. (Dominique, 

Blanchard). 
Du Bois, Wm. A. (Du Bois). 
Du Bois, Wm. Maison (Du Bois, Le 

Fevre, Blanshan). 
Dumont, John B. (Dumont). 
Du Pont, Col. Henry A. (Du Pont). 
Du Puy, Miss Eleanor G. (Du Puy, 

Chardavoyne, Valleau). 
Du Puy, Herbert (same as above). 
Duyvee, Rev. Joseph (Durie). 
Duval, H. Rieman (Duval). 



EcKARD, Rev. L. W. (Bayard). 

Ellis, John Gillett (Gilet, Bvssell). 

Ellis, Mrs. Wm. R. (Gilet, Byssell). 

Elting, Peter J. (Du Bois, Le Fevre). 

Ely, William (Bernon). 

Ely, William D. (Bernon). 

Embury, Aymar (Aymar, Belon, 

Magny). 
English, William E. (Du Bois, Blanshan). 



Faber, Reginald Stanley (De 

Dibon). 
Falconer, Wm. H. (Fauconnier). 
Fallow, Mrs. W. G. (L'Hommedieu). 
Farnham, Elijah S. (Molines). 
Farnham, Mrs. George A. (Vermeille). 
Faulkner, Dr. Richard B. (Du Puy, de 

Vaux). 
Ferree, Miss Annie D. (Ferree, Blan- 

con). 
Ferree, Barr. 
Ferree, Samuel Patterson. 
Flagg, Rev. Edward O. ( Villeponteux). 
Flandreau, Felix E. (Flandreau). 
Floyd-Jones, Mrs. E. (L'Escuyert. 
Fontaine, William M. (de la Fontaine, 

Boursiquot, CbaiUon). 



Foote, Mrs. N. A. M. (Gilet). 
Foster, Rev. Daniel Requa (Requa). 
Fowler, Mrs. A. H. (Gratiot). 
Freeman, Alden (Molines, Vassall, 

Bonne). 
Freeman, Joel Francis (Bonne). 
Frizzell, William H. (De Courcy, Friz- 

zell). 
Fuller, Linus E. (Molines). 

Gallaudet, Prof. E. M. (Gallaudet, 
Prioleau). 

Garden, Hugh R. (De Saussure). 

Garretson, Mrs. J. B. (Delaplaine, Cres- 
son). 

Gautier, Dudley G. (Gautier). 

Gillett, Mrs. C. M. (Gilet Byssel). 

Goddard, Mrs. F. W. (Cortelyou). 

Goldthwaite, Mrs. C. C. (Flandreau). 

Graham, Walter (Chardavoyne, Dupuy, 
"Valleau). 

Grant, Gen. Fred. D. (De la Noye, de 
Lille). 

Green, Elmer Erving (Du Bois, Het, 
Sauzeau). 

Grinnell, Wm. Milne (Molines). 

Gross, Samuel Eberly (Du Bois, Blans- 
han). 

Guion, Rev. Wm. B. (Guion). 

Gurnee, Augustus C. (Gamier). 



Hall, George P. (de Rapalie, Trico). 
Harris, Mrs. Thos. Cadwalader ( Jaudon). 
Hartley, Mrs. Marcellus (de Boncourt, 

Byssel). 
Haslock, William F. (Dombois). 
Haughey, Mrs. E. McLean (Coutant, de 

Pre). 
Hegeman, Miss A. M. (Hegeman, de 

Champ, Perot). 
Heins, George L. (Fauconnier, Valleau). 
HelHenstein, Dr. A. E. (Fauconnier, Val- 
leau, Chardon). 
Heroy, William W. (Erouard, Coutant). 
Hillman, William (Guion). 
Hodges, Alfred (Provoost). 
Hoffman. Mrs. E. A. (Mercereau, Cha- 

daine). 
Holbrook, Mrs. L. (Perrin, Thorel). 
Holland, Rev. William J. (Benezet). 
Hopkins, Mrs. E. A. J. (De Vaux, 

Tourneur). 
Hook, Mrs. E. Warren (Le Maistre, Du 

Bois, Le Comte). 
Hubbard, P. Mascarene (Mascarene). 
Huidekoper, Mrs. F. W. (de Mandeville, 

des Marets). 
Hunter, Mrs. F. K. (Waldo). 
Hunter, Jas. W. (Thelaball). 
Huntington, Rev. Wm. R. (Baret). 

Ireland, Oscar B. (Guion). 

Jackson, Miss Margaret A. (Robert, 
de la Borde, La Tour). 

Jackson, Samuel Macauley. 

James, Edward W. (Dauge, Thelab'^U). 

James, Mrs. J. W. Harry (Molines). 

Jay, Col. William (Jay, Francois, Bay- 
ard). 

Johnson, James L. (Le Baron, Bayeux, 
Boudlnot, Papin). 

Jollne, Mrs. Adrian H. (Coutant). 

Jones, Mrs. F. Cazenove (De Cazenove, 

Jouet, Cavalier H. ( Jouet, Coursler). 



APPENDIX 



443 



Julien.GustavusD. (Cantine, Blanchan). 
Julien, Rev. Matlliew C. (Cautine, 

Blanchan). 
Juillard, A. D. (Juillard). 
Juillard, Mrs. A. D. (Cossit). 

Kendall, Mrs. S. L. Du Bols (Du 

Bois, Bentyn). 
Kingsland, Mrs. J. Bayard (Bayard ). 
Kress, Mrs. Idabelle S. (Des Marest, 

Baton, Bonnefoy). 

La Bach, Jas. O., Paul M. (Des Marest, 
Sohier). 

Ladew, Mrs. H. S. (Du Bois, Blanshan). 

Lanier, Charles (Lanier). 

Lathrop, Miss Emma G. (de Forest, du 
Trieux). 

Lathrop, Kirke (Gilet, Byssell). 

Lawton, Mrs. G. Perkins (De Forest, Du 
Cloux). 

Lawton, Mrs. James M. (Bayard, de 
Peyster, Mas.se, Poingdextre). 

Lawton, Mrs. Thomas A. (Molines). 

Lea, Mrs Henry (Jaudon). 

Le Boutillier, Clement, John, Mrs. Mar- 
garet, Thomas, Dr. Wm. G. (Le 
Boutillier, Guitton, Le Maistre, 
Peltier). 

Le Conte, Dr. Kobt. G. (Le Conte). 

Lee, Julian Henry (Mallet). 

Lester, Henry M. 

Loomis, Mrs. H. P. (Boudinot, Carre). 

Luquer, Mrs. L. McI. (Jay, Bayard). 

Luquer, Nicholas (L'Esquyer, de flapa- 
lie, Trico). 

Luquer, Thatcher T. P. (L'Esquyer, de 
Rapalie, Trico). 



Macdonald, Mrs. Malcolm (Ferree, 
Le Fevre). 

Maddox, Mrs. Virginia K. (D'Aubigne). 

Maltby, Miss Dorothy L. (Rapalje, 
Trico). 

Mann, Mrs. C. Addison (Cazneau, Ger- 
mon. Molines). 

Marschalk, Edwin A. (Fauconnier, Val- 
leau, Chardon). 

Marquand, Prof. Allan fMarquand). 

Maury, Charles W. (Maury, de la Fon- 
taine). 

Maury, Col. Richard L. (Maury, de la 
Fontaine). 

McAllister, Miss Julia G. (De Lancey, 
Manigault, Marion). 

McMurtry, Mrs. Clara f>. (Molines). 

Merritt, Mrs. Schuyler (Du Bois, Blans- 
han). 

Mesier, Louis (Mesier). 

Miller, Kingsbury (Rapelie, Trico). 

Mitchell, Cornelius B., Hon. Edward 
(Berrien). 

Mitchell, Hon. J. Murray (Berrien). 

Mitchell, William ( Berrien ). 

Moffat, Mrs. R. Biirnham (Jay, Bayard). 

Moore, Mrs. John W ( De Maree, Sohier). 

Morris, John E. (Bontecou, CoUinot). 

Morris, Robert Oliver (Bontecou, Col- 
linot). 

Morrison, Mrs. G. Austin (De Camp, de 
MandeviUe). 

Moseley, Mrs. William H. (Molines, 
Gaillard). 

Mottet, Frederick (Mott«t). 

Mount, Misses C. A., Susan (De Gray). 

Murray, Charles H. (Bascom). 



Nicola, Mrs. Charles A. (Pinneo). 
Norwood, Miss Catherine (Stella, 
Legereau). 

OoDEN, Wm. B. (Bernon). 

Oliver, General Paul A. (Ambrose, 

Prioleau, Gallaudet). 
Olney, Peter B. (Sigourney). 
Olney, Mrs. Peter B. (Sigourney). 
Olney, Hon. Richard (Sigourney). 
Orr, Mrs. A. E. (L'Esquyer, de Rapalie, 

Trico). 



Payne, Mrs. Henby C. (L'Estrange, 

Le Mestre). 
Peabody, Mrs. Ellen R. (de Rapalie, 

Trico). 
Pechin, Mrs. Edmund C. (Gaillard or 

Gaylord). 
Pechin, Miss Lila S. (Pechin). 
Peets, Mrs. Cvrus B. (Harger). 
Pelletreau, Vennette F. (Pelletreau, 

Gouin). 
Perkins, Mrs. Charles P. (Gaineau). 
Perot, Joseph S. (Perot). 
Pierce, Mrs. Dean (Mascarene). 
Pinney, Mrs. Maria W. (Gaillard or Gay- 
lord). 
Plummer, D. Bowdoin (Beaudoln). 
Porter, Mrs. Henry K. (De Camp, Per- 

rot). 
Potter, James B. M., Jr. (Le Moine). 
Potter, William H. (Le Moine). 
Prall, Rev. William (Mercereau). 
Putnam, Mrs. Erastus G. (Boudinot, 

Bayeux, Papin). 

Quintard, George W., (Quintard 
Fume). 

Ralph, Mrs. C. M. B. (Chevalier, 
Renaudet). 

Randolph, Mrs. Edmund D. fMolines). 

Rapelje, Jacob G. (de Rapelye, Trico). 

Rapelye, Henry S. (de Rapalje, Trico). 

Rawson, Mrs. Warren (Petit). 

Rees, Prof. John K. (Du Bois, Blanshan). 

Reilly, Mrs. Thomas A. (Molines). 

Remsen, Mrs. Margaret S. (De Peyster). 

Reynolds, Mrs. Benj. (Gaillard or Gay- 
lord). 

Bhinelander, Philip. T.J. Oakley (Rhine- 
lander, Robert, La Tour, de la Borde, 
Benaud, Mercierl. 

Rice, Mrs. Charles E. (Gaillard or Gay- 
lord). 

Richards, Charles S., Mrs. Susan A. 
(Rapelye, Trico). 

Bieman, Mrs. Annie L. (de Rapalie, 
Trico). 

Rivers, Capt. W. C, U. S. A. (Flournoy). 

Robert, Miss Mary E. (Robert, La Tour, 
de la Borde). 

Roe, Mrs. Charles F. (Des Marest, Le 
Sueur). 

Roosevelt, Mrs. James (de la Noye, de 
Lille). 

Rumsey, Mrs. William (de Kay). 

Rundall, Clarence A. (Doyou, Du Bois, 
Blanshan, Ver Nooy). 

Russell, Mrs. Henry G. (Bernon). 



Sahler, Miss Florence L. (Du Bois, 

Blanshan). 
Sanger, Hon. Wm, Gary (Bequa), 



444 



APPENDIX 



Sargent, Mrs. Charles 8. (Bernon). 
Schauffler, W. G. (Byssel). 
Schieffelin, W. Jay (Jay, Bayard). 
Schuyler, Mrs. Montgomery (Prevot, 

Vincent, Felle). 
Seacord, Morgan H. (Sicard, Arneau, 

Bonnet, Coutant). 
Sell, Dr. Edward H. M. (Seul). 
Sellew, Dr. Frederick S. (Selleu). 
Shannon, Mrs. P. M. (Molines). 
Sbelton, E. De Forest (De Forest, Du 

Trleux, du Cloux). 
Shelton, Miss J. De Forest (same as 

above). 
Shepard, Benjamin (Molines). 
Sherman, Mrs. Byrou (Molines). 
Shonnard, F. V. (Mizerol, Praa). 
Simons, C. Dewar, J. Dewar (Bacot, 

Mercier, de Saussure, Peronneau). 
Smith, Miss Amanda M. (Rapalie, 

Trico). 
Smith, A. Augustus (Pengry). 
Smith, Miss L. Cotheal (de Cotele). 
Smith, Mrs. Rosa W. (Molines). 
Smith, Miss Sarah P. (Rapalie, Trico). 
Snitzler, Mrs. John H. (Laborie, de 

Resseguier). 
Snow, Mrs. James Pardon (Le Conte). 
Spencer, Mrs. L. V. B. (Benin). 
Stanton, F. McM., Mrs. John, John R. 

(De Maree, Sohier). 
Stelle, Frederick W. (Stelle, Legereau). 
Stelle, Morton B., Jr. (Stelle, Legereau). 
Stelle, Wm. Watte (Stelle, Legereau). 
Stevenson, Richard W. (Le Fevre, 

Duryee). 
Stimson, Frederic J., Mrs. H. C. (Boudi- 

not, Carre). 
Strong, Mrs. Allen H. (de Rapalje, 

Trico). 
Swan, Mrs. H. Tilden (Molines). 
Swift, Mrs. Edward Y. (Le Baron) 
Swords, II. Cotheal (de Cotele). 
Swords, Miss P. Caroline (de Cotele). 

Taylor, Mrs. Van Campen (Rapelie, 

Trico, Cortelyou). 
Thayer, Geo. W. (Molines). 
Thayer, Nathaniel (Bayard). 
Thayer, Samuel R. (Molines). 
Thayer, Mrs. Stephen Van R. (Bernon). 
Thomas, W. Grassett (Grassetf). 
Thompson. Mrs. Ellen S. (Laborie, 

Durand, Gilet). 



Townsend, Mrs. Howard (Bayard). 

Trevor, Henry GrafF (L'Espenard). 

Troxell, Miss Clementine R. (Michelet, 
Mangeot). 

Turner, Rev. C. H. B. (Tourneur, Poin- 
sett, Fouchereau). 

Turnure, Lawrence (Tourneur). 



XJtley, Miss Elizabeth M. (Pardieu). 



Van Buren, Mrs. Robert A. (Aymar, 

Belon, Magny). 
Vanderpoel, Miss M. V. B. (Le Baron). 
Van Deventer, Mrs. L. F. (Flournoy). 
Van Kleeck, Henry (de Rapelie, Trico, 

Du Bois, Bruyn). 
Van Rensselaer, C. S. (Bayard). 
Vaughan, Miss Matilda B. (Fauconnier, 

Pasquereau, Valleau). 
Velazquez, Mi.ss Mariana (de Peyster). 
Vermilye, Rev. A. G. (Vermilye). 
Voute, J. Oscar (de la Voute). 



Wagner, Henry (Godde, Teulon). 
Wallls, Miss Miriam K (Garnier). 
Ward, Mrs. Charles Dod (Lequie). 
Ward, Henry Chauncey (Gaillard or 

Gay lord). 
Wardwell, Mrs. Helen E. (Aymar, 

Belon, Magny). 
Warner, George C. (De Forest). 
Weisse, Dr. Faneull D. (Faueuil). 
Wells, Miss J. Chester (Baret). 
White, Mrs. Eliza M. C. (de la Noye, De 

Lille, Molines). 
Wilcox, Mrs. Wm. W. (Seleu). 
Williams, Miss Anne S. (De Votion). 
Williams, Mrs. Catherine P. (De Votion). 
Wilson, Rev. Robert (Mazyck, Ravenel, 

Le Serrurler, de St. Julien). 
Woolsey, Prof Theodore S. (Chevalier). 
Wright, Mrs. William J. (Rapalie, Trico, 

Cortelyou). 



Young, Miss Elizabeth F. (Du Bois, 

Ferree, Deyo, Blanshan). 
Young, Mrs. Emilia F. (Du Bois, Ferree, 

Deyo, Blanshan). 
Young, Mrs. Wm. Hopkins (Hasbroucq, 

Doyau, Le Blanc, Du Bois). 



INDEX 



Acadia, Huguenot settlemeut, 114 

Adams, John, 431 

Alden, John, pedigree of, 126 

Allaire, Alexander, 231 

Allaire, Iiouis, 190 

Allen, Zechariah, 149 

Amadee, sufferings of in the galleys, 
80-89 

America, French attempts to colonize, 
93-112 

American Bible Society, founded by a 
Huguenot, 19 

American character, French estimate 
of, 416-419 

American civilization, French as a factor 
in, 420-427 

American Protestantism, debt of to Cal- 
vin, 427 

Bancroft, Georse, 424 

Baird,Charles W., 11 

Baird, Henry M., 11 

Ballou, Hosea, 20 

Bayard family: Judith, 216; Mrs. 
Samuel, 216, 308-311 

Bayard, Thomas F., 311 

Beaver, James A. , general and governor, 
321 

Bedloe's Island, 216 

Bellomont, Governor, 224 

Bethlo, Isaac, refugee, 1652, 216 

Benezett, John .Stephen, earliest open 
abolitionist a Huguenot, 315 

Beruon, Gabriel : Founder of Oxford set- 
tlement, 134 ; sketch of his life, 143- 
148 ; residence in Newport, 146 ; 
death in Providence, 147 ; tablet to, 
148 

Bible, The, cause of reformation in 
France, 43 ; clergy's ignorance of, 
40 ; Queen Anne's, 167 ; Huguenot 
reverence for, 421 

Blanchard, Thomas, inventor, 402-406 

Bondet, Daniel, Reverend, 239 

Bonrepos, David, Reverend, 238,286 

Bonne Passe (Rumpus), 412 

Boyer family of Pennsylvania, 318 

Boston : Hospitality to Huguenots, 131, 
132 ; French iChurch in, 157 ; a 
Huguenot's description of, 192 

Boudinot, Elias, 19, 304 

Bowdoin, James (Baudouln), 183 

Bowdoin, James, governor, 183 

Bowdoin College, 185 

Brazil, attempted French colonization 
in, 94 97 

Briconnet, Guillaume, Bishop, 42 

Bulflnch, Charles, 181 

Calvin, John, America's debt to, 424 ; 

contrasted with Luther, 426 
Canada : Huguenot settlement of, 116 
Carre, Ezechiel, 161 
Champlain, governor of Canada, 120 
Character, Huguenot type of, 206, 413, 

420, 421 ; moral tmd religious, 422 



Chardon, Peter, 189 

Chartier, Gillaume, first Protestant cler- 
gyman to cross Atlantic, 95 

Cheerfulness, a Huguenot characteristic, 
408 

Chevaliers, The, of Pennsylvania, 317 

Choate, Rufus, 405 

Civilization, American, French aa a fac- 
tor lu, 420 

Clemens, Samuel L., 35 

Coliguy, Admiral, 49 ; murder of, 57 

Colonization plans, 93, 98 

Colonial Congress, 19 

Colonial Days and Ways, 407 - 

Colonization : French schemes of, 93 ; 
Villegagnon's failure in Brazil, 93; 
disastrous attempts in Florida, 98 ; In 
Canada, 112 

Columbia College, 223 

Constitutional Convention of 1779, 184 

Court, Antolne, 74 

Dana family : Francis, 186 ; Richard 
Henry, 187 ; James, 187 ; Samuel W., 
187; Charles A., 187 

DaiUe, Peter (Pierre) Reverend, 161, 226, 
285 

De Bellamy, Governor, opinion of Prot- 
estants, 48 

De Bonneville, George, 319 

Decatur, Stephen, 20 

De Forest family, the, 212, 264 

De Gourges, Dominique, 110 

De la Noye, Phillip, 128 

Delano, H. A., 128 

DeLancey family : Etienne, 258 ; family 
mansion in New York, 258 

Delaware : Minuit's residence In, 292 

Demarest, David, founder of Hacken- 
sack, 223 

De Monts, Pierre, expedition of, 114-117 

De Rasieres, Huguenot, 215 

De Quincey, 34 

Dewey, Admiral George, 20 

Dragooning, 55 

Dresden settlement, Maine, 196-201 

Duche family, 311 

DuPont family, 311-313 

Dupont, Admiral, 20, 313 

Reformed Church in New York, a 
Huguenot pastor of, 223 

Edict of January, 49 

Edict of Nantes, 54 ; revocation of, 54 

Edict of Toleration, 78 

Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, answered, 

390 
English, Philip (L'Anglois), 129 
Etienne, Robert, 40 

Faneuil, Benjamin, John, Andrew, 
173 ; Andrew, 173, 174 ; Benjamin, 
174 ; Peter, 175-182 ; his character, 
177 ; gift of market to Boston, 179 ; 
tribute to, 182 

Faneull Hall, 19, 180, 181 

Farel, Guillaume, 42 



445 



446 



INDEX 



Ferree family, 293 

Fiske, John, 15 

Florida, French colonization scheme, 97 

France : Loss of western world, 18 ; 
Huguenot persecutions in, 43-61 

Freemasonry, The, French in, 386-396 

Fremont, General John C, 20 

French Church in Boston, 157 

French Church in New York, 225 ; aided 
by Dutch, 226; first house, 1688,226; 
later church edifices, 227 ; members, 
227, 228 ; adoption of Episcopal 
liturgy, 228; present philanthropic 
work of, 229 

Freneau, Philip, poet, 269-271 

Gallaudet family, the, 276-278 
Galleys, Life in the, 80-92 
Gano, John and Stephen, 279-282 
Germany, influence of Huguenots in, 70 
Germantown, Pennsylvania, early 

French settlers of, 316 
GIrard, Stephen, 302-307 
Girard College, 307 
Great Britain, Huguenots in, 67 
Green, Richard Henry, 34 
Gros, Johann Daniel, 223 
Grose, Howard B., 13 
Guerrant, Edward O., 430 

Hamilton, Alexander, 20,252-257 

Harlem, settled by French, 223 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 203 

Henry of Navarre, Henry IV, 54 

Hillegas, Michael, 315 

Holland, debt of to Huguenots, 65 

Home life, Huguenot in America, 407-415 

Houdelette, Henry Clay, 197 

Howe, Julia Ward, 208 

Hubele, Adams and John, 319 

Huguenots: Estimate of, 15; in Eng- 
land, 16; origin of the name, 38 ; per- 
secutions of in France, 43 ff.; flight 
of, 56; invincible spirit of, 61; in 
Europe, 64-73 ; superiority of in arts 
and trades, 64 ; later persecutions of, 
74 fi. ; influence of upon Puritan 
character, 202-211 ; as a factor in 
American life, 420-427 ; home life of, 
407 ; traits of character, 413 



Indians, hostile at Oxford settlement, 
141 



Jay, John, 19, 244 251 

Jesuits, intrigues of, 141 

Joan of Arc, 25 ; before the Dauphin, 28 ; 

trial, 30 ; sentence, 32 ; martyrdom, 

34 ; estimates, 34 ff. 
Johonnot, Daniel, 188 

KiBK, David and Lewis, 119 

Laborie, Jacques, 141 

la,fayette, Marquis de. 377; Decoration 

Day observance in Paris, 380 
La FoUette, Robert, 400, 401 
La Montague, Johannes, 215 
Latin School, Boston, 182 
Laudonniere, story of expedition, 100 
Laurens, Henry, 327 
Leclerc, John, martyr, 44 
LeContes, The, Gillaume, 218 ; Pierre, 

218 ; John and Joseph, 218 ; John 

Lawrence, 218 



LeFevre, Jacques, 42 

LeFevre, Ralph, 288 

LeMercier, Andre, 165 

Lescarbot, Marc, 115 

Levering family, the, 316 

Lodge, Henry Cabot, estimate of Hugue- 
nots, 19 

Louis XV, Edict of against Hugue- 
nots, 76 

Louisiana Purchase, 383 

Lovell, John, oration of, 181 

Luther, Martin, 426 

Maine, French colony in, at Dresden 
196 

Manakintown, Va., 348 

Manigault, Gabriel, 19, 326 ; Judith, let- 
ter of, 324 

Marchands, The, of Pennsylvania, 319 

Margaret of Angouleme, 43 

Markos, Abram, organizer of "City 
Troop " of Philadelphia, 317 

Marion, Francis, 19, 338-344 

Marot, Clement, hymns of, 62, 421 

Maury, Ann, 373 

Mayflower, Huguenot passengers on, 125 

Meaux, Reformation at, 43 

Memoirs of a Huguenot Family, 363 

Menendez, Don Pedro, 108 

Minuit, Peter, 214, 292 

Molines, Priscilla (Mullins), the Puritan 
maiden, 125 

Montgomery, Richard, Revolutionary 
martyr, 267 

Names, changes in, 291, 412 

Narragansett settlement, the, 151 ; list of 
colonists, 152; troubles of, 154 ; dis- 
persion, 155, 156 

New Amsterdam, French settlers of, 
212 ; flrst child born in, French, 213; 
names of first settlers, 214 ; second 
governor a Huguenot, 214 ; first 
doctor a Huguenot, 215 ; fusion of 
Dutch and French in, 215 

New Bordeaux, French settlement in 
South Carolina, 327 

New Paltz, Huguenot settlement, his- 
tory of, 283-289 

New Rochelle, Huguenot settlement, 
231 ; land bought in 1689, 231 ; names 
of families, 232, 233; description of, 
234; centre of culture, 235; French 
Church of, 237-241 ; French life of, 
409 ; schools of, 414 

New York : French among settlers of, 
212 ; French families of, 218-222 ; type 
of character, 223 ; French club in, 
224; French Church in, 225 ; social 
leadership in, 432 

Oliver, Anthony, 189 
Orange, French colony of, 214 
Oxford settlement, 134-142 ; families of, 
137 

Palissy, Bernard, 58 ff. 

Passevant, William A., minister and 
philanthropist, founder of hospitals, 
320 

Pennsylvania : Huguenots first white 
settlers of, 290 ; Huguenot families, 
293, 298, 299 

Protestantism, English, 16 

Puritan, Dutch and Huguenot con- 
trasted, 408 

Port Royal, naval victory of, 313, 314 



APPENDIX 431 

preaching, distributing Bibles and tracts, teaching Sunday-schools and 
day schools, caring for the sick beyond the reach of physicians, clothing 
the poor, building churches, and in every way blessing the thousands to 
whom they ministered. More than five hundred were received into the 
church that year, showing the results of the Soul Winners' faithfulness. 
This is the obligation assumed by the members of the Soul Winners' 
Society : 

" By the help of God, and for His glory, I will try to win at least one 
soul for Christ, my Lord, every year I live, and give what I am able to 
send the gospel to my perishing countrymen." 

Protestant Pioneer Preachers 
The Calvinist ministers who came to Acadia from Geneva in 1557 were 
the first Protestant ministers in the Western Hemisphere. Robert was 
the first Protestant minister to set foot on the continent of North 
America. The Huguenots were thus in the lead of all others. 

The American Heroine 
Deborah Sampson, named the "American Heroine," who served as a 
Revolutionary soldier for nearly three years, her sex never being sus- 
pected, was a descendant of Bathsheba LeBroche. She enlisted under 
the name of Robert Shurtlefif, and served under Captain George Webb in 
the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment. She was wounded at Tarrytown, 
and fought in the battles of White Plains and Yorktown. She exhibited 
unusual heroism, was esteemed a gallant as well as faithful soldier, re- 
ceived an honourable discharge, and was granted a pension by the govern- 
ment. She was as modest as she was fearless, and was impelled to her 
course by patriotism. She was born in Plympton, Massachusetts. The 
story of her career has been written by Mrs. Deborah Sampson Gannett, 

The Huguenot Chapel 

One of the chapels to be erected as a part of the Protestant Episcopal 
Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York is to be called the Hugue- 
not Chapel. This will be the second chapel in a series of seven. Mrs. 
Edward King, of New York, gave $100,000 for the building of this memo- 
rial to the Huguenots who have had from the beginning such honourable 
part in the making of the Metropolis of the New World. 

Many Distinguished Men 
From a study of the names contained in Appleton's Encyclopedia of 
American Biography, Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge finds that among the men 
in America prior to 1789 who were of suCflcient distinction to be named 
in the Encyclopedia, there were 589 Huguenots, they holding fourth 
place in the Ust. This is sufficient testimony as to the character and 
ability of these Protestant French. 

President John Adams 
In his History of Independence Hall (pubUshed by James Cballou & 



432 . APPENDIX 

Son, Philadelphia, 1859), D. W. Belisle says : " The maternal ancestor of 
John Adams was John Alden, a passenger in the Mayflower, acd thus he 
inherited from his parentage the title of a Son of Liberty. The last 
words he ever uttered were, ' Independence forever 1 ' " Thus it appears 
that the Huguenot " Priscilla" was the ancestress of one of our Presi- 
dents. 

Eably Society in New York 

In the society which marked the early days of the Republic, in New 
York, then the seat of the Continental Congress, Mrs. John Jay, wife of a 
Huguenot descendant, was the acknowledged leader. Her talented hus- 
band was secretary for foreign affairs. Her " Dinner and Supper list " 
for 1787-8 contains the names of the men and women prominent in that 
day. General Washington was among the honoured guests in that 
hospitable mansion. Mrs. Jay was a Livingston. Early in the list are 
the names of Colonel John Bayard, distinguished member of a Huguenot 
family, and his wife. Other names are Alexander Hamilton, "the 
vivacity of whose French blood would make him a welcome guest at 
every social gathering " ; Dr. John Rodgers, Presbyterian minister, and 
his wife, who was of the Delaware branch of the Huguenot Bayard 
family ; and Dr. Provoost, bishop of New York, a chaplain of Congress, of 
combined Dutch and Huguenot descent. Two other names of note 
among the Huguenots were Elias Boudinot and Daniel Huger, the latter 
of the South Carolina family so honourably represented in the Revolution. 
The DeLancey family was represented, as were the Izards of South 
Carolina. Both in Congress and society the Huguenot families were at 
the front. 

Washington And A Huguenot Maiden 

The great Washington, in his early life, was smitten, according to well 
established tradition, by the charms of a maiden of French blood, the fair 
Mary Philipse, who later became Mrs. Morris. Her father's mansion, 
still standing on Harlem Heights and known as the Jumel Mansion, was 
subsequently Washington's headquarters. 

Tracing Some Obscure Lines 

It is not assumed in the case of the names here given that a French 
ancestry is certain ; simply that there is fair reason for believing it. No 
harm will be done if the genealogical case is not made out. 

Backus. Isaac Backus, Baptist author and minister, born Jan. 9, 1724, 
at Norwich, Conn., died in 1806 at Titicut, Conn. Descendant in fifth 
generation of William or Stephen Backus, who came to Norwich, Conn., 
from Norwich, England, in 1637. Backus doubtless from Beccues, a Wal- 
loon. DeSue Beccues was witness to a Walloon baptism in Norwich, 
England, as the records of the Huguenot Society show. 

Deland, DeLnnd, Delane. Delaune. Philip Delane or Deland, probably 
a Huguenot, came to Newbury, Mass., in 1694. Rowland Deland, the 
probable ancestor, is given as a member of the Walloon Church at Nor- 
wich, England. 



APPENDIX 433 

Belmont, JBellomont, Beaumont. Beaumonts abound in Huguenot liter- 
ature. LeSieur de Beaumont was a refugee in Acadia in 100-1. Richard 
Coot, Earl of Bellomont, governor of Now Yorli and Massachusetts in 
1696, was of Flemish origin. Coot is a Huguenot name in Canterbury 
Church records. While the Belmouts come from the Palatinate, Rhenish 
Prussia, the family is French in origin. 

Oarrison. William Lloyd Garrison's grandfather Joseph was an Eng- 
lish settler on the St. John's River in 1767. His origin is obscure. Gar- 
rison was a common Walloon name in England after the Huguenot 
refugees had gone thither. Isaac Garrison, a Huguenot from Montau- 
bon, France, became a citizen of New York in 1765. It is not at all im- 
probable that the great Abohtionist had Huguenot blood in his veins. 

Eustis. William Eustis, governor of Massachusetts in 1825, was a de- 
scendant of William Eustis of England. The family is of Norman blood, 
Eustace the Count of Boulogne being the English progenitor. 

Hale. Nathan Hale, of Connecticut, who was executed as a spy in the 
War of the Revolution, was descended from the Hales of Kent, England, 
of whom Sir Nicholas de Hales was the Norman ancestor. 

Fauntleroy. Moore Fauntleroy, founder of the Virginia Fauntleroys, 
was of Huguenot origin, his father being John Fauntleroy of Southamp- 
ton, England. Moore, the immigrant, was a man of property, member 
of the Virginia House of Burgesses. 

Moultrie. General William Moultrie, who defended Sullivan's Island 
from British attack in 1776, was of the Huguenot blood, as the South Car- 
olina records show. His brother John was governor of East Florida in 
1775. The family is one of the first in South Carolina. 

Lyon. General Nathaniel Lyon, of Connecticut, a brave commander in 
the Civil War who died at Wilson's Creek, August 9, 1861, was a descend- 
ant of William Lyons, who came to Roxbury from England in 1635 in the 
ship Hopeioell. The English ancestor was Sir Roger de Leonne, a native 
of France. 

Legare. Hugh Swinton Legar^, born in Charleston, S. C, Jan. 2, 1789, 
died in Boston June 20, 1843, was attorney-general in President Tyler's 
cabinet, and was attending the dedication of Bunker Hill Monument 
when stricken with fatal illness. He was a direct descendant of Solomon 
Legare, a Huguenot refugee from Bristol, England, to Charleston, S. C, 
in 1686. Solomon Legar^ was one of the founders of the Congregational 
Church — Circular Church — in Charleston. 

Ross. Mrs. Betsey Ross, who made the first United States flag, very 
hkely had French blood in her veins, although proof positive is wanting. 
She came from the Griscom family, and the name is in the Huguenot 
records frequently. The name of Ross, also, is common among the 
Huguenots as Ros. The flag was made upon an order from a committee 
consisting of General Washington and Colonel George Ross, her hus- 
band's uncle. Her ancestor, Samuel Griscom, built the first brick house 
in Philadelphia in 1682. 

Hussell. This family Is of Norman origin, and Huguenot. The family 



434 APPENDIX 

of Le Rozel, from the place of that name in Lower Normandy, reaches 
back into the eleventh century. In England the Russells have been 
among the prominent families since the middle of the twelfth century. 
The name, given as Rushell, Rozel, Rosel, Rousselle, frequently occurs 
in the Walloon records at Canterbury. Russell and Rousell, Rouselle and 
Roussel were in the list of " Foreigners resident in England in 1618-1688.' ' 
The Russells were also on the original passenger lists to America in the 
seventeenth century, at least a dozen entries of them bound for New 
England. In the New World as in the Old, the family has won distinc- 
tion. The late Governor Russell of Massachusetts belonged to the best 
type of American citizenship. 

Vasse. Colonel Joseph Vasse, or Vose, who commanded the First 
Massachusetts Bay Regiment in the Revolutionary War, was a direct de- 
Bcendant of Robert Vose, or Vasse, who came from England to America 
in 1654 and bought 174 acres of land in Milton, including a portion of the 
famous Brush Hill. In England the name was spelled Vaux, retaining 
the Norman origin. It is not unUkely that the name Foss comes from 
the same source. 

St. Clair. General Arthur St, Clair had Norman blood in his veins. 
He was born in Scotland in 1736, died in Pennsylvania in 1818. He was a 
general in the Revolutionary War. He married in Boston Phoebe 
Bayard, daughter of a Boston Huguenot, Balthazar Bayard. His wife's 
mother was a half-sister of Governor James Bowdoiu. The St. Clairs or 
Sinclairs of Scotland were of Norman descent from Walderne, Count de 
Santo Claro, whose wife was daughter of the Duke of Normandy. 

Warren. General Joseph Warren, whose name will Uve as long as 
Bunker Hill is remembered, was born in Roxbury, Mass., June 11, 1741. 
The origin of his Boston ancestor, Peter Warren, is obscure. He mar- 
ried Sarah Tucker, and Tucker is a Huguenot name, corrupted from 
Tuttiett or Touchet. The father of General Warren married in 1710 
Mary Stevens, daughter of Doctor Samuel Stevens, who first produced 
the russet apple. The name of Stevens is found as Stiffens, Steffens, 
Stephens, in Huguenot annals. So also the name Warren, Warene and 
Werene, is common in Walloon records. Very probably Peter Warren, 
ancestor of General Warren, was Pierre Warrene, a Huguenot. He was 
first known in Boston in 1659. 

Reverdy. Peter Reverdy and his son Benoni came to New York from 
London with Pastor Peiret on the ship Robert in 1687. Peter was the 
reputed author of certain Memoirs of Sir Edmund Andros. He was 
chosen coroner of Newcastle, Delaware, in 1693. Reverdy was a Poitou 
family. Huguenot. 

Johnson. Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, the son of John Johnson and 
Ghiselin, daughter of Reverdy Ghisehn, of Maryland, was a Hugue- 
not, his mother being a descendant of Jan Ghiselin, a Huguenot refugee 
to England in 1566. 



INDEX 



447 



Kabat't, Paul, pastor, 77 

Rapalie, Sarah, 213 

Rag carpet, introduced by French, 410 

Ramsay, South Carolina historian, 323 

Revere, Paul, 19, 168172; Freemason, 
386, 432 

Reynolds, General John F., 20, 296, 297 

Reynolds, Admiral William, 297 

Ribault, Jean, expedition of, 98-111 

Richelieu, Cardinal, 17 

Roberdeau, Daniel, 298 

Rochelle, La, 39 

Rochette, Pastor,last Protestant martyr, 
77 

Roman Catholic Church : corruption of 
in France, 39 ; persecution of Protes- 
tant reformers, 43 

Rou, Louis, Reverend, 227 

Russia, French colony in, 70 

Salem, Huguenot refugees in, 129, 130 

Sampson, Deborah, 431 

Sautee River (French Santee), Hugue- 
not colony, 324 

Schley, Admiral W. S., a Huguenot, 20, 
297 

Schomberg, Huguenot, 17 

Sevier, John, 358 

Sigourney, Andrew, 188 

Simms, William Gilmore, 341 

Smith, Helen Evertson, author, 407 

South Carolina, Huguenots in, 322 ; hos- 
pitable treatment of, 327 ; prominent 
French names, 324 ; French Church, 
Charleston, 336; John Lawson'a 
Journal of a Visit to, 334 

Staten Island, French settlement on, 
217; uamesof settlers, 217 



St. Bartholomew's Day, 50 ff. 
Stouppe, Peter, Reverend, 240 
Stuyvesant, Peter, wife a Huguenot, 216 
Sunday, Huguenot observance of, 413 
Superstitions fostered in France, 41 



Tiffany family (Jacques Tiphaine an- 
cestor), 219 
Touton, Jean, 128 
Thoreau, David, 271-275 
Trinity School, New York, 230 



Univeksalism, founded in America by 
a Huguenot, DeBonneville, 320 



Van den B(isch, LArRKNTirs, 160 
Vassar College, founded by a Huguenot 

descendant, 276 
Vassar, Matthew, 20, 275 
Vassy, massacre of, 49 
Vaudois, persecution of the, 45 
Vigne, Jean, claimed to be first white 

child born in North America, 213 
Villegagnon, failure in Brazil, 93 
Virginia : Huguenots in, 345 ; petition to 
establish colony in, 346; Manakin- 
town colony, 348 ; Huguenot fami- 
lies, 343 ; French Church in, 354 ; the 
Beauford or Buford Family, 357 



Walloons, French Protestants, 212 
Washington, George, Masonic eulogy of, 

387 
Wittmeyer, Alfred V., Reverend, 229 



NAMES OF HUGUENOTS IN AMERICA MENTIONED IN THIS 
VOLUME, BUT NOT GIVEN ELSEWHERE IN THIS INDEX 



Amian, Jean, 152 
Andre, Arnaud, 152 
Angevin, Zacharie, 221 
Ayrault, Daniel, 146 

Badeau, Elie, 232 
Baillergeau, Jacob, 221 
Barbarie, Jean, 219 
Barbut, Uillaume, 152, 191 
Barger, Philip, 191 
Basset, David and Peter, 191 
Bayeux, Thomas, 221 
Beauchamps, Jean, 152 
Beaver, John George, 321 
Belliair, Daniel, 152 
Bergeron, Jacques, 222 
Besly, Oliver, 233 
Beviere, Louis, 284 
Biscon, Isaac, 191 
Blanshau, Matthew, 284 
Blocq, Albert, 293 
Bonnin, Aman, 222 
Boucher, Louis, 191 
Bouniot, Ezechiel, 152 
Boutineau, Stephen, 190 
Bovie, Jerome, 217 
Boyer, James, 299 
Boyer, Samuel, 318 
Brund, John, 299 
Bussereau, Paul, 152 

Canton, Peter, 189 
Carre, Louis, 222 
Cellier, Jean Henri, 319 
Chabot, John, 189 



Chadaine, Jean, 222 
Chadene, Jean, 152 
Chaprou, Pierre, 221 
Chardavoinne, Elie, 222 
Chardon, Peter, 189 
Charrou, Elie, 131 
Chauvenant, William, 320 
Chevalier, Peter, 299 
Chevalier, Phillip, 293 
Clapp, GlUaume, 233 
Collin, Paul, 152 
Cothouneau, William, 233 
Coudret, Daniel, 222 
Coudret, Jean, 152 
Couche, Daniel, 299 
Coulon, Jean, 222 
Cousseau, Jacques, 220 
Crommelin, Daniel, 220 

David, Jean, 152 
David, Josue, 152 
DeCharms, Richard, 317 
De la Plaine, Nicholas, 316 
De Neufville, 222 
Deyo, Christian, 284 
Desbrosses, Jacques, 222 
Deschamps, Pierre, 152 
Dissoswav, 217 
Doutell, Michael, 299 
Doz, Andrew, 297 
Drouhet, Paul, 222 
DuCastle, Edmond, 297 
Duche, Jacob, 299 
Dubois, Jacques, 222 
Dubois, Louis, 283 



448 



INDEX 



Dupeen, Daniel, 299 
Durand, Pierre, 222 
Durell, Moses, 299 

Equieb, Jean, 222 

Fleury, Peter, 299 
Foruey, Peter, 319 
Foucault, Andre, 221 
Fouchart, Jean, 219 
Freer, Hugo, 283 
Frere, Hugh, 284 
Fume, David, 222 

Cancel, Jean, 221 
Garrlgues, Francis, 299 
Gaudineau, Gilles, 222 
Geneuil, Louis, 222 
Germon, Jean, 152 
Gillard, Daniel, 222 
Giraud, Daniel, 232 
Girrard, Pierre, 222 
Goud, Jean and Daniel, 199 
Grande, Juste, 217 
Gros, Lorenz, 223 
Guerin, Estienne, 233 
Guion, 217 

Hasbrouck, Jean, 284 
Hodnett, John, 299 
Houdelette, Charles Stephen, 197 
Hubele, Adam, 319 

IVE, Gibard, 217 

Jaquin, George and James F., 199 
Jardiues, Dr., 293 
Jolin, Andre, 222 
Julien, Jean, 152 

Lambert, Daniel, 162 
Lambert, Denis, 219 
Lamoreaux, 227 
Laurans, Hubert, 293 
Lavigne, Charles, 222 
Lavigne, Estensie, 233 
Laylor, John Henry, 199 
LeBoyteau, William, 299 
LeBloud, Anthony, 190 
LeBrun, Jean, 316 
LeBrun, Moise, 152 
LeDieu, Lewis, 299 
Lefever, Jacques, 292 
Lefevre, Simon, 283 
Legare, Francois, 152 
Legare, Hugh Swiuton, 191 
LeGendre, Daniel, 152 
Legrand, Pierre, 220 
Lepperner, Margaret, 234 
LeRoux, Bartholomew, 232 
LeTort, James, 299, 318 
Levering, Joshua, 316 
Lorillard, Pierre, 227 
Low, C.,Seth,228 
Lyron, Lewis, 219 

Mabe, Simon, 233 



Hagnon, Jean, 232 
Malbon, Daniel, 199 
Many, Jacques, 222 
Marchaud, Daniel, 221 
Martin, John, 233 
Martin, Pierre, 217 
Mathiot, Henry Bernard, 319 
Maynard, 227 
Merceveau, Daniel, 222 
Mercier, Isaac, 232 
Minvielle, Gabriel, 218 
Montels, Pierre, 219 
Moussett, Thomas, 191 

Naddin, Elie, 293 

Paca, John, 299 
Paillet, Andre, 222 
Paris, Amos, 199 
Parmentier, Pierre, 217 
Passevant, William A., 320 
Pelletreau, John, 222 
Perry, Oliver H., 230 
Piervaux, Jean, 222 
Pinaud, Jeau,222 
Pinnard, Joseph, 299 
Pochard, Nicholas, Jean, 179 

QuiNTABD, Isaac, 222 

Rambert, Elie, 152 

Rappe, Gabriel, 298 

Reboteau, Nicholas, 298 

Rembert, Elie, 222 

Renardet, James, 299 

Renaud, Daniel, 152 

Requa, Claude, 219 

Reverdy, Peter, 222 

Riddle, Francis, 199 

Robiuett, Samuel, 298 

Rochia, Laurens, 293 

RoUand, Pierre, Jean, Abraham, 222 

Roller, John E.,319 

Rouette, Daniel, 293 

Roux, Jean, 222 

Kusland, Pierre, 222 

Rutan, Gerrit, 292 

Sauvage, Abraham, 191 
Saye, Richard, 293 
Scurman, Jacob, 232 
Signac, Peter, 191 
Stain, John, 199 
Stilphen, Michael, 199 

Taboe, Daniel, 152, 221 
Tillou, Francis R., 222 
Tissau, Marie, 131 
Tourtellot, Abram, 152, 191 
Tripeo, Frederick, 299 
Trochon, Pierre, 222 

Vidal, Stephen, 299 
Vinaux, Jacques, 222 
Votaw, Paul, 299 
Voyer, Peter, 299 



i y 



II 



